The Cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille is one of the more startling sights in northern France. The building is Gothic — or rather, it was intended to be: construction began in 1854, stalled repeatedly, and was finally completed 145 years later. The result is a genuinely peculiar church: a Gothic body culminating in a west façade of pale translucent marble completed in 1999, with a giant modern rose window that glows luminously in morning light. It is either a bold act of architectural honesty or a catastrophic mismatch, depending on your tolerance for ecclesiastical modernism.
Inside, the older Gothic nave is graceful and spacious, housing a venerated statue of the Virgin dating to the 14th century. The modern façade, seen from inside in the early morning when the Estremoz marble turns golden with transmitted sunlight, is genuinely beautiful. The cathedral sits in a small square in the northern part of Vieux-Lille, a short walk from the Hospice Comtesse.