Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast 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 ...

, adjacent to Roubaix, Tourcoing is the chef-lieu of two cantons and the fourth largest city in the French

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

of Hauts-de-France ranked by population with about 97,000 inhabitants. Together with the cities of Lille, Roubaix, Villeneuve-d'Ascq and eighty-six other

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

, Tourcoing is part of four-city-centred metropolitan area inhabited by more than 1.1 million people: the

Métropole Européenne de Lille The Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL; en, "European Metropolis of Lille") is the '' métropole'', an intercommunal structure, composed by a network of big cities (Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Villeneuve d'Ascq, Armentières etc.) whose majo ...

. To a greater extent, Tourcoing belongs to a vast conurbation formed with the Belgian cities of Mouscron,

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and large ...

and Tournai, which gave birth to the first European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation in January 2008, '' Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai'' with an aggregate of just over 2 million inhabitants.

History

The city was the site of a significant victory for France 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 ...

. Marshal Charles Pichegru and his

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

s Joseph Souham and Jean Moreau defeated a combined force of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Austrian troops in the Battle of Tourcoing on 29 Floréal II (18 May 1794).

Population

Main sights

*Church of St Christopher (15th-16th centuries), considered one of the most beautiful Neo-Gothic edifices of Nord. In stone and brickwork, it has an high bell tower with more than 80 bells. *''Hospice de Havre'', founded in 1260. The cloister and the chapel date from the seventeenth century. *''Hôtel de ville '' (1885), in Napoleon III-style. *'' Jardin botanique de Tourcoing'', a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

and arboretum.

Transport

The

Tourcoing station Tourcoing station (French: ''Gare de Tourcoing'') is a railway station serving the town Tourcoing, Nord department, northern France. Services The station is served by high speed trains to Paris and regional trains to Roubaix and Lille. SNCB/NMB ...

is a railway station offering direct connections to Lille and Paris (high speed trains), Kortrijk, Ostend, Ghent and Antwerp. The town was formerly served by the Somain-Halluin Railway.

Notable people

* Yohan Cabaye, footballer *

Jean-Marc Degraeve Jean-Marc Degraeve (born 26 January 1971) is a French chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1998. Career Degraeve won the French junior championship in 1987, and had attained the title of International Master in 1991, ...

, chess grandmaster * Stéphane Denève, conductor * Brigitte Fossey, actress *

Anna Gomis Anna Gomis (born 6 October 1973) is a French wrestler who competed in the Women's Freestyle 55 kg at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won the bronze medal. She was named ''1999 Female Wrestler of the Year'' by the International Federation of Associ ...

, wrestler * Henri Padou,

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

player and 1924 Olympic gold medallist *

Brigitte Lahaie Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of the ...

, pornstar * Joseph-Charles Lefèbvre, bishop of Bourges, cardinal, cousin of *

Marcel Lefebvre Marcel François Marie Joseph Lefebvre (; 29 November 1905 – 25 March 1991) was a French Catholic archbishop who greatly influenced modern traditional Catholicism. In 1970, he founded the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a community to tra ...

, missionary priest and, later, controversial archbishop, cousin of Joseph-Charles * Mr. Sam, a popular deejay and producer running his own record label since 2008. * Albert Roussel, composer * Yves Devernay, organist Guilbert de Lannoy (1545-) and his son Jean de Lannoy (1575-) were Protestants from Tourcoing who resettled in Leiden, Holland. Jean's son, Philip Delano ( - ; born ''Philipe de la Noye'' or ''Philipe de Lannoy''), was an early emigrant to the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

and progenitor of the prominent

Delano family In the United States, members of the Delano family include U.S. presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ulysses S. Grant and Calvin Coolidge, astronaut Alan B. Shepard, and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Its progenitor is Philippe de Lannoy (16 ...

, which counts among its descendants prominent figures in American history, including president Franklin Roosevelt.

Notable Startups

In 2013, Maxime Piquette and Charles De Potter founded iCreo, a digital audio company in Tourcoing. The company created RadioKing, a platform for internet radio, and Ausha, a platform for podcast hosting and marketing. It received support from regional funders, Nord France Amorquage and IRD Gestion. The company is now the platform for media outlets

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

, Liberation, l'Équipe and AFP, as well as large corporations and independent content producers.

International relations

Twin towns - sister cities

Tourcoing is twinned with: *

Biella Biella (; pms, Biela; la, Bugella) is a city and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Piedmont, the capital of the province of the same name, with a population of 44,324 as of 31 December 2017. It is located about northeast of Turin a ...

, Italy *

Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cent ...

, Germany * Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Poland *

Mitte (Berlin) Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kre ...

, Germany * Mühlhausen, Germany * Partyzanski (Minsk), Belarus

Other forms of cooperation

* Guimarães, Portugal * Mouscron, Belgium *

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

, England

References

External links

Tourcoing town council website
(in French)
Tourcoing Volley-Ball Lille Métropole
(Official website of the top team, in French)
See pictures from Antonio Mucherino's web site
{{Authority control Communes of Nord (French department) French Flanders