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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Bailiwick of Aire-sur-la-Lys is a former administrative building built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Originally designed as a guard for the urban militia, it was financed by a tax on beer and wine authorized in 1597. Its architecture was inspired by the Amsterdam City Hall, and it was inaugurated in 1600, although the works continued until 1603.

The building, in Flemish Renaissance style, is distinguished by its facades decorated with blue stone columns, red bricks and white chalk. It has now been home to the Tourist Office since 1970. Ranked a historic monument in 1886, he underwent several restorations, notably after World War I.

The bailiff served as a court for the bailiff in the 17th and 18th centuries, then as a police station in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its large room, used for exhibitions, is accessible by an original wooden staircase. The statues adorning his frieze represent theological and cardinal virtues, as well as the four elements.

Damaged during the First World War, it was restored between 1921 and 1925, with an identical reconstruction of its breech. Located at the corner of the Grand Place, it bears witness to the judicial and military history of the city.

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