A little history of Lille former Stock Exchange
And also
The tops
The Stock Exchange |
Velvet / CC-BY-SA
Raised in 1652 for Jules Destrées: rich merchants of Lille wanted a Stock Exchange like in Holland! This Bourse is composed of 20 houses gathered around a court, where transactions took place.
In the 17th century, cloth trade was in full swing. In Lille, prosperous city, merchants from Northern Europe traded here next to the fontaine au Change ("Exchange fountain"). A very inconvenient place...
Philip IV, king of Spain and prince of Holland, allowed Lille to raise "a Stock exchange for every merchants, where fontaine au Change stands" in June 1651.