On the Scarpe River, Douai is a city that has reinvented itself many times.
Until the 1700s, it developed rich trading wool, packaged on barges along Scarpe. Then, under French rule, things became more sophisticated when Congressional Flanders and the judiciary moved to the city, armed with Douai with sublime architecture from the 18th century. In the 19th-century coal mining and metallurgy took over, and the largest mining museum in France is now a few minutes outside the city. One character who has been here during this time is Gayant, a tall ceremonial puppet that is paraded with his family during a city festival in early July and is the most popular resident of Douai. Discover the best things to do in Douai.
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1. Musée de la Chartreuse
Douai’s museum of fine arts has an astonishing set of paintings and sculptures by masters from France, Italy and the Low Countries. There are works by Delaxroix, Courbet, Sisley, Boudin, Veronese and Jacob Jordaens, as well as a large polyptych by artist Jehan Bellegambe based in Gothic Douai.
Those are a few of the must-sees, but there are 10,000 works in all, presented in chronological order in a glorious setting. The complex of galleries is a former Carthusian monastery, which itself was adapted from a 16th-century Renaissance mansion.
2. Douai Belfry
Medieval watchtowers like this one take pride in their location in cities in northern France and parts of Belgium. So much so that they’re listed as a collective UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The steamed Douai has been around since 1380, and while it looks serious at the lower levels, the top floors flourish with turrets and golden weather and the final fin. Victor Hugo sang its praises when he passed through Douai in 1837, and raved about the carillon of 62 bells, which still plays a little tune at quarter past and quarter to every hour.
There is a short concert at 10:45 and 11:45 on Saturday mornings, as well as Monday evenings at 21:00 in the summer.
3. Musée Archéologique Arkéos
This archaeology museum has assembled 40 years' worth of finds from digs in and near Douai and put them on show in a modern home that was unveiled in 2014. The artifacts range from prehistory to the middle ages and these bones, ceramics, glass items and tools paint a clear picture of life here at different stages in the past.
And using this information the museum has also laid out a sizable archaeological park, which reconstructs scenes from around Douai in the year 1000: There is a monastic, feudal motte with a wooden barn, a poultry-yard, and various shops and houses.
4. Centre Historique Minier de Lewarde
This foundry in Lewarde ran from 1931 to 1971, and after it was shut down, it was selected as my museum and display. It is the largest museum of its kind in France and sheds light on a compelling period in the region’s not too distant past.
You’ll descend deep into the mine to feel firsthand what it would have been like for people who had to do this every day. Artifacts and mining equipment are displayed in the main hall, where former miners are happy to share their recollections.
Meanwhile, most of the facilities like the infirmary, bathroom/showers, lamp-shop, and administrative offices are exactly as they were when the mine shut down.
5. Palais de Justice
The Parliament of Flanders moved to the site of a former monastery by the Scarpe in 1714, laying the tracks for Douai to become the judicial city it is today. Both the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Court of Appeal and the Nord Court of Assizes are here.
On weekends in summer you can arrange tours of the interior, and it’s worth it to see the Grand’Chambre of the Flanders Parliament. This was completed in 1762 with fine murals, sculpted wooden pilasters, and gilded plasterwork.
One former inmate of the prison by the water was Eugène François Vidocq, a criminal turned criminalist, who set up the first-ever private detective agency and helped conceive the French police department.
6. Douai’s Fortifications
The city’s defenses were mostly dismantled after 1891 to allow Douai to build healthier, more spacious neighborhoods. But several pieces survive and you could keep these in mind as you make your way around the city.
The chunky Porte de Valenciennes is probably the most remarkable, dating from 1453 and made from sandstone. It’s a large, square structure with three passageways (two of which were added in 1880 to allow road traffic) surmounted by an old guardhouse.
Louis XIV passed through this gate in 1667 after Douai surrendered to him. The Porte d’Arras is a smaller gate from the 1300s, with two circular towers, while the Tour des Dames is sandstone tower from 1425 in the park of the same name.
7. Collégiale Saint-Pierre
The city’s defenses were mostly dismantled after 1891 to allow Douai to build healthier, more spacious neighborhoods. But several pieces survive and you could keep these in mind as you make your way around the city.
The chunky Porte de Valenciennes is probably the most remarkable, dating from 1453 and made from sandstone. It’s a large, square structure with three passageways (two of which were added in 1880 to allow road traffic) surmounted by an old guardhouse.
Louis XIV passed through this gate in 1667 after Douai surrendered to him. The Porte d’Arras is a smaller gate from the 1300s, with two circular towers, while the Tour des Dames is sandstone tower from 1425 in the park of the same name.
8. Old Douai Boat Tour
Because Douai and the Scarpe River go hand in hand, you can step down the Embarcadère du Palais de Justice on the Place de Pollinchove in the summer.
At the wooden pier are motorboats waiting for you on a short journey of the old city, where there are small monuments, relics of the waterfront industry and elegant riverside houses.
An experienced guide will fill you in on 2,000 years of Douai’s history, pointing out the importance of every bridge, wharf, warehouse, and lock.
9. Small Sights around Douai
You can keep investigating Douai on foot to see the big changes that happened here in the 18th century when the judiciary arrived. Many sophisticated homes were built around this time, like the Hôtel du Dauphin on Place d’Armes, now housing Douai’s tourist office.
See also Louis XV Hôtel batAoust, which became the headquarters of the Administrative Court of Appeals in 1999. On a different tack, there are the Fonderie des Canons, which is a garden containing the vestiges of a 17th-century arsenal and cannon foundry.
Directly opposite is the Hôtel Romagnant, the charming 17th-century home of the artillery commissioner.
10. Les Fêtes de Gayant
Douai wouldn’t be the same without its family of ceremonial giants, which are huge effigies that are carried around the city in processions for three days at the start of July.
The oldest, Gayant was born in 1530, and unlike in other cities in the region, Douai neglected to give him a name, just calling him Gay Gayant, the giant! Later, he was joined by a wife, Marie Cagenon, and three children, Binbin, Fillon and Jacquot.
They make their annual appearance on the first Sunday after July 5, and the 8.5-meter Gayant needs to be carried by six men hidden under his robes.
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