227 historic monuments, more per resident than almost any compared French town

Ancienne abbaye de Saint-WaastClasséHôtel de villeClasséImmeubleClasséImmeubleClasséBeffroiClassé+83See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.

Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.

Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point. 16 monuments have no point on the map.

43 more, named only by their kind

43 more are named in the list only by their kind: 41 houses (maisons) and 2 buildings (immeubles), most from the 18th century. The 43 with an address are in the list above, by it.

See all 227 on the map

A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.

The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.

The first was protected in 1840. 63 were protected in 1920 alone. 3 have been added since 2011.

Everyone born in Arras Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.

Few towns are as rich in historic monuments as Arras: per resident it has more than 99% of compared French towns. In all there are 227 historic monuments, 157 of them classé, including Ancien palais des Etats d'Artois. No town its size has more historic monuments: it leads the 41 nearest in population. Hôtel de ville sits at the heart of it all, with 144 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m.

Part of it has been a site patrimonial remarquable since 2019. Of the 82 with a date, 74 come from the 16th to 18th centuries. The oldest is Vestiges archéologiques du complexe métroaque (temple de Cybèle), from the 3rd century. Beyond that, most entries are houses and homes; and 6.6% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.