"Making a boulevard for yourself The atypical Valenciennes promenade

The stronghold of Valenciennes was dismantled between 1889 and 1893. Boulevards and middle-class neighborhoods replaced the ramparts and citadel. On boulevard Carpeaux, you can admire the only remnant of a medieval tower, the Tour de Dodenne.

Further along, boulevard Beauneveu runs alongside the Place de l’Esplanade, where Valenciennois used to enter the citadel. Remains of the fortifications can still be seen in the park known as “de la citadelle”. You can also admire the Repenties lock, an 18th-century lock listed as a historic monument.

Without going quite that far, desks set up along boulevard Beauneveu display some old maps and provide some historical information on the vanished fortified enclosure.

On the Boulev’ART Watteau

Six sculptures adorn the Mail Watteau. Six works from the Museum’s reserves. All are striking in their purity, grace and expressiveness.

They include : La première offrande d’Abel by sculptor Léon Fagel. This is a first for this talented Valenciennes sculptor, who was not previously represented in the public domain.

The graceful Seated Girl is a resin reproduction of a plaster cast donated to the museum around 1956 by the wife of sculptor Félix Desruelles.

The strength of Lucien Brasseur’s Worker complements Lyrical Inspiration and Thought, two gilded sculptures by the same artist that already adorned the museum’s entrance.

A reproduction of the monumental marble sculpture of Saint-Christophe attributed to sculptor and architect Pierre Schleiff. The sculpture, the only remaining testimony to the artist’s talent, stood until 1979 in the church of the Jesuit College, now the Saint-Nicolas auditorium.

… Saly, Beauneveu

5 replicas of works of art – well known to the people of Valenciennes – act as beacons on this road leading to Valenciennes town center. They are :

“Le Prince impérial” and “Hector implorant les Dieux” by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux,
“Narcisse” by Ernest-Eugène Hiolle,
“Povoretto” by Jean-Joseph Marquet de Vasselot
“l’Ours Blanc” by François Pompon

The charm of our brick houses…

At the corner of boulevard Pater and square du Rieur, you can admire the “Château de Madame Marguerite de Vienne”, built between 1893 and 1896 by local architect Emile Dutouquet, who created several civil and religious buildings in the Flemish neo-renaissance style. You’ll fall under the spell of the villas on boulevard Pater, with their small street-front gardens; take a good look, they all have a little name…