Place de la République, Pedestrian square in central Lille, France
The Place de la République is a large pedestrian square in the center of Lille, built on the site of the city's old fortifications. The prefecture of the Nord department stands to the northwest and the Palais des Beaux-Arts to the southeast, with a fountain featuring a sculpture by Eugène Dodeigne at the center.
The square was laid out in 1862 after Lille expanded onto the land of its old city walls, and was first named Place Napoléon-III. After the fall of the Second Empire, it was renamed Place de la République in 1870.
The square is directly accessible from the République - Beaux-Arts metro station, which sits right beneath it. From here, it is easy to walk to the surrounding streets and nearby districts.
Beneath the square there was a space called Le Cratère, which from the 1980s onwards became a well-known gathering point for breakdance dancers in Lille. Part of the surface was also reshaped in 1983 into a small open-air amphitheater.
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