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Origin and history

The Place des Héros, located in Arras in the Hauts-de-France, is a historic square of the grand-place type, marked by a mineral aspect typical of the ancient cities of the Netherlands. With the nearby Grand Place, it is the historic heart of the city. Rectangular and covering about 70 acres, it is framed by the Town Hall (classified in 1921) and its belfry (classified since 1840 and registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005). Its current name, adopted in 1945, pays tribute to the resistance hijackers shot during the Second World War.

The architecture of the square reflects a strong Flemish influence, visible through the pinions with volutes and arcades on the facade of the 52 protected buildings. These classifications, which occurred between 1919 and 1921, underline the heritage value of the whole, reconstituted after the destruction of the First World War. The square also served as a setting for films such as La Liste de mes envies (2014) and Pas son genre (2014), demonstrating its cultural attractiveness.

Before 1945, the square was called Petite Place, a name evoked in historical works such as The Old Arras (1877) by Constant Le Gentil or The Squares of Arras (1881) by Adolphe de Cardevacque. These sources describe its central role in urban life, alongside the Grand-Place and Rue de la Taillerie, the link between the two spaces. Its layout and layout date back to a medieval tradition of marketplaces, although today's buildings mostly date back to post-First War reconstructions.

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