

Museum of the Gunners in Lille (Musée des Canonniers Sédentaires de Lille)
A great museum for those interested in Lille’s military history, the Museum of the Gunners in Lille (Musée des Canonniers Sédentaires de Lille) explains the story of the Sainte Barbe Brotherhood (one of the oldest artillery units in Europe) and their implication in the defense of the city over the centuries. Indeed, Lille, because of its strategic and thus precarious position, required an effective militia as well as walled fortifications in order to survive – something that would later on be proved necessary, seeing as the city went from being Flemish, Bourguignone, Imperial and Spanish before becoming French, all in the matter of a few centuries. The museum’s exhibitions, presented in the former Urbanist convent, holds over 3,000 objects of various genres like artifacts, weapons like firearms and cannons (including the famous Gribeauval cannons that Napoleon Bonaparte offered to the canoneers himself), documents and equipment related to the city’s defense.
Practical Info
Musée des Canonniers is located on rue des Canonniers in Lille, within walking distance from Gare Lille Flandres metro station. The museum is open from Monday to Saturday between 2 and 5PM, but it is closed from mid-December to February and on the first three weeks of August. Entry costs €5 per adult and is free for visitors younger than 15 years old.
Trip ideas
- Things to do in Nord-Pas de Calais
- Things to do in Bruges
- Things to do in Brussels
- Things to do in Zaventem
- Things to do in Dordrecht
- Things to do in Rotterdam
- Things to do in Marne-la-Vallée
- Things to do in Paris
- Things to do in Amsterdam
- Things to do in Horley
- Things to do in Stansted Mountfitchet
- Things to do in Luxembourg City
- Things to do in Deauville City
- Things to do in Flanders
- Things to do in South Holland
- Hospice Comtesse Museum (Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse)
- Lille Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille)
- Lille Old Town (Vieux Lille)
- Grand Place
- Birthplace of Charles de Gaulle (Maison Natale de Charles de Gaulle)
- Lille Town Hall and Belfry (Beffroi de l'Hôtel de Ville de Lille)
- Lille Natural History Museum (Musée d'Histoire Naturelle de Lille)
- Lille Museum of Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille)
- Science Forum (Forum Departmental Des Sciences)
- Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art (LAM)
- Villa Cavrois
- Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts (Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains)
- La Piscine Museum (Musée d'Art et d’Industrie André Diligent)
- La Manufacture de Roubaix
- Maison Folie Hospice d'Havré