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Origin and history

The refuge of Notre-Dame de Loos Abbey served as an urban home for the monks of the Abbey, located in Lille. Originally founded outside the city, the abbey received a donation from Bernard, lord of Roubaix, who offered his Lille house to house the religious and their property. This first refuge was destroyed in 1301 when the castle of Courtrai was built by Philip the Bel, forcing the monks to settle in a house of the Grande-Chaussée, offered by the king as compensation. This site became insufficient over the centuries, pushing the abbots to acquire land and houses in the Sainte-Catherine district from 1481 onwards.

Between 1520 and 1530, Abbé Denis Bauvin considerably expanded the estate by buying gardens and plots between the current streets of the Abbey of Loos, Houdain and England. The neighboring square, the Holy Catherine Cross, was even nicknamed the Abbey Square to whom everything is necessary because of the extent of monastic possessions. In 1538, Denis Bauvin launched the construction of a new refuge in this area, but a large fire ravaged Lille in 1545, destroying both the old house of the Grande-Chaussée and the construction site under way. The current buildings, including a chapel, were rebuilt after the fire in the future Rue de l'Abbaye-de-Loos.

The shelter suffered a new fire in 1624, but continued to serve as a residence and source of income for the abbots, with some of the premises being rented. In the 18th century the king's lieutenant in Lille, Charles François de Virot de Sombreuil, stayed there between 1776 and 1786. The French Revolution marked the end of this history: in 1791, the estate was sold for 56,500 florins, putting an end to nearly five centuries of monastic presence. Today, only the main building body and the entrance porch, giving access to the public garden of the Loos Abbey, remain from the refuge.

The facades and roofs of the refuge, as well as its portal, were inscribed in the historical monuments by order of 10 April 1980. The site, located at 34-40 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau and 5 rue des Trois-Moulettes in Old Lille, still bears witness to the religious architecture and urban history of the city. Administrative coordinates place the monument in the department of the North (code Insee 59350), in the Hauts-de-France region.

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