Valenciennes city of artists The Athens of the North

Keep your eyes peeled along the way. Look up, art is everywhere!

Valenciennes is the town with the most statues per square metre. Your first encounter is with the great Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and his Prince Impérial, accompanied by his faithful dog. The tone is set for this poetic stroll.

You’ll then have a tête-à-tête with Carpeaux as he ponders his next and final work, “La fontaine des 4 parties du monde”, created by Félix Desruelles.

On the façade of the Eugène Bozza Conservatory, you’ll find the names of some of the Valenciennes artists who won the Prix d’Excellence in Rome.

On Place Saint-Nicolas, meet Lucien Brasseur’s young girl with a dove, who accompanies epicureans strolling along the terrace. Then, a stone’s throw away, in the Square Saint-Géry, Carpeaux’s magnificent Fontaine Watteau presents itself to you.

Treat yourself to a moment of contemplation. For the more curious, the doors of the Saint-Géry church are open.

Following on from this, rue de Paris takes you to the neuf-bourg district, a veritable “village in the city”. Take time to admire the architecture of this lively little square, before heading off to the other side of the old town for the next part of the adventure…

Once past the pretty Square de l’Ordron, where your eyes couldn’t help but fall on the magnificent façade of the Auberge du Bon fermier, you enter the town’s pedestrian street, Rue de Famars, where the stores beckon…

An arrow pointing skywards beckons… You’ve reached the Place d’Armes! Erected in 2005 in place of the old belfry, “L’Aiguille” by artist Jean Bernard Métais is a reference to the town’s lacemakers.

You won’t want to miss the magnificent façade of the Town Hall, which invites you to take a selfie!

The Béguinage district is just waiting for you.

Stroll through the typical streets and alleys of old Valenciennes, where flower-filled facades and colorful doors lead you to the beguinage enclosure (once home to the beguines, a community of pious women).

Behind these walls steeped in history lies one of the city’s green lungs: the Parc de la Rhônelle.

This wooded park, laid out “à l’anglaise”, is dotted with works of art to delight the eye! See Elie Raset’s “Le joueur de billes” and Pavot’s “La faunesse”.

Although the circuit takes you to the left as you leave the park, I’d advise you to follow the Boulevard Watteau to admire the works on display at the museum. This pedestrian walkway will charm you with its botanical and artistic layout. The other part of the boulevard invites you to contemplate the bourgeois houses, and leads you to the famous Prix de Rome park…

Rubbing shoulders with celebrities in the Prix de Rome Park

Valenciennes’ “Walk of Fame” is a lovely green setting containing the works of the great names who have made the Valenciennes area famous.

What is a Prix de Rome?

These prizes were awarded between 1663 and 1968 to artists in different disciplines, such as painting, engraving, sculpture, music… The most talented went to Rome to study their passion at the Villa Medici. Valenciennes boasts no fewer than 21 Prix de Rome winners!

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