Porte de Gand

The Porte de Gand stands as a twin-towered brick gatehouse, its heavy limestone foundations holding up a structure built in sixteen seventeen. It served as the main eastern entrance to Lille during the period when the city remained under Spanish rule. When King Louis the Fourteenth conquered Lille decades later, he added a second defensive line beyond this gate, rendering it obsolete for military use. Inside, a toll collector once lived in the upper chambers, documenting every sack of flour or keg of ale entering town.