Photo spot in Lille
The Vieille Bourse courtyard
Twenty-four merchant houses around one small arcaded courtyard, with second-hand book stalls under the galleries most afternoons — the city's weatherproof room.
About The Vieille Bourse courtyard
Get directionsThe Vieille Bourse was built in 1653 as twenty-four separate merchant houses arranged in a rectangle around a single inner courtyard, and it still works exactly that way. Under the wooden galleries, second-hand booksellers set out their tables most afternoons, chess players take the far corner and the whole thing smells of paper. The courtyard is barely the size of a tennis court, which forces you close: a wide lens along one gallery gives the arcade repeating away, a longer one picks the couple out against a wall of book spines.
It is the answer to Lille's weather. The gallery roofs keep the rain off and the light bounces around the ochre stone, soft and even, so a session that was planned for the Grand'Place can move fifteen metres and carry on. Bring a fast lens: it is a stop or two darker than the square outside.
The stalls set up in the early afternoon and pack down before evening, and the courtyard is closed on Mondays and in bad weather — check the day's opening before you build a shoot around it. It is a real market: the booksellers are trading and need their aisles, so keep the footprint small, move when asked and skip the tripod unless you have cleared it.
Step out of the south arch and you are on Place du Théâtre, with the opera and the belfry; step out of the north one and you are on the Grand'Place. Nothing in Lille is more than a minute from anything else.
Best time to shoot
Early afternoon, when the book stalls are set up; any weather, it is covered
Tips
Closed Mondays and in bad weather, so check before you plan around it. It is a working book market — small footprint, no tripod unless cleared, and give the traders their aisles.
Other spots in Lille
The Grand'Place and the Déesse column
A rank of Flemish baroque fronts in red brick and gold sandstone, with the belfry of the Chamber of Commerce rising behind — Lille in one frame.
Vieux Lille — Rue de la Monnaie and the Place aux Oignons
Ox-blood brick and pale stone fronts, wrought-iron shop signs and cobbles narrow enough that two people fill the frame.
The Citadelle park and the Palais des Beaux-Arts steps
Vauban's five-pointed star fort in a wood of plane trees and canals, and a broad museum staircase on Place de la République — Lille's two open-air rooms.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Vieille Bourse courtyard — free of charge.