The Column of the Goddess is the popular name given by the citizens of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

(

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) to the Memorial of the Siege of 1792. The memorial is still in the center of the ''Grand′ Place'' (central square) of

, and has been surrounded by a fountain since around 1990.

The siege

The siege of September 1792 was one of the many battles fought during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

and considered a major event in the city's history by its inhabitants, despite its relatively low military significance on a wider scale. A few months earlier, in April 1792, French forces in the same area did not conduct themselves well – fleeing after a skirmish with Austrian forces and afterwards killing their own commander,

Théobald Dillon Théobald Dillon (1745, Dublin – April 29th, 1792, near Lille) was count of Dillon and an Irish-born general in the French army. He was a distant cousin of general Arthur Dillon (who also had a brother named Theobald). He entered Dillon's ...

. This might have made the Austrians expect an easy victory, which as it turned out was not the case. An Austrian army of 20,000 men besieged the city of

. Then the city was attacked by

Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen Prince Albert Casimir of Saxony, Duke of Teschen (11 July 1738, Moritzburg, Electorate of Saxony – 10 February 1822, Vienna) was a Saxon prince from the House of Wettin who married into the Habsburg imperial family. He was noted as an art ...

. For nine days and nights, the Austrians bombarded the city without intermission, but had ultimately to raise the siege, faced with the determined resistance of the citizens, led by Mayor François André. The Austrians destroyed many houses and the main church (Saint-Etienne) of the city, which was on the ''Grand′ Place'' (today the ''Place du Général de Gaulle''). "The siege of Lille in 1792 was, from a purely military perspective, not a significant event. It is clear that contemporaries sought to exaggerate both the scale and the importance of the Austrian attack on Lille."

The monument

The church was never to be re-built and the ''Grand' Place'' of Lille is still one of the few local central places without either a church or a belfry (unlike similar cities such as

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

). Hyacinthe Jadin composed his ''Marche du siège de Lille'' in 1792, in the direct aftermath of the siege. For many years there was, however, no physical monument in the city itself. Some fifty years later, the local authorities became aware that nothing had been made to commemorate the 50th birthday of this event. They decided on the building of a memorial, just in time to lay the first stone in September 1842, but it was not before 1845 that the memorial was finished. The memorial consists of a column topped by a statue. The column was designed by the architect Charles Benvignat, while the statue was sculpted by

Théophile Bra Théophile François Marcel Bra (23 June 1797, Douai - 1863) was a French Romantic sculptor and exact contemporary of Eugène Delacroix. He was deeply involved in the Romantic era through his uncompromising personality and complex spirituality. ...

as an allegory of the besieged city wearing a

mural crown A mural crown ( la, corona muralis) is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later ...

. It was nicknamed the ''Goddess'' by the inhabitants of Lille soon after the erection of the memorial, as some local poems suggest.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Column Of The Goddess Monuments and memorials in France Goddess Battles of the French Revolutionary Wars Buildings and structures in Lille Tourist attractions in Lille