Église Saint-André de Lille, Baroque Catholic church in Vieux-Lille, France
Église Saint-André de Lille is a Baroque church on Rue Royale in the Vieux-Lille district. Its limestone facade has two stacked orders, Ionic and Corinthian, and two statues of Saint Peter and Saint Andrew carved by Jules-Victor Heyde in 1889. The brick and stone bell tower, added by Louis Marie Cordonnier in 1887, rises 50 metres and is topped by a metal dome. The interior is 71 metres long and 28 metres high, with a nave of six bays separated by columns of Ecaussine stone.
Construction started in the early 1700s following the destruction of a previous building during a military siege of the city. The structure was built according to Baroque designs and has shaped the appearance of the old neighborhood since then.
The church is named after the apostle Andrew, whose interlaced initials A and S appear inside above the main door. It was first consecrated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel as the chapel of the Grands Carmes, and the left chapel still displays the Carmelite coat of arms above a painting of the scapular being given to Saint Simon Stock.
The church is open to visitors only on certain weekdays and sits in the center of the old town district, which is easy to reach on foot. A nearby transit station makes arrival by public transportation convenient.
The grand organ's carved case dates from 1844 and came from the Abbey of Loos. The instrument itself was built by Merklin-Schütze in 1864, with 36 stops on three manuals and a pedalboard; a separate choir organ by the same maker followed in 1855.
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