View source for Tourcoing

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name            = Tourcoing
|native name     = {{native name|pcd|Tourco}}<br/>{{native name|vls|Terkoeje}}
|commune status  = [[Communes of France|Commune]]
|image           = Tourcoing hotel ville 3-4.JPG
|caption         = [[Hôtel de Ville, Tourcoing|Hôtel de Ville]]
|arrondissement  = Lille
|canton          = [[Canton of Tourcoing-1|Tourcoing-1]] and [[Canton of Tourcoing-2|2]]
|image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Tourcoing (Nord).svg
|image flag      = Flag of Tourcoing.svg
|INSEE           = 59599
|postal code     = 59200
|mayor           = [[Doriane Bécue]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=6 June 2023|language=fr}}</ref>
|term            = 2020&ndash;2026
|party           = [[Miscellaneous centre|DVC]]
|intercommunality = [[Métropole Européenne de Lille]]
|coordinates     = {{coord|50.723907|3.161168|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m     = 67
|elevation min m =
|elevation max m =
|area km2        = 15.19
|population      = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}

'''Tourcoing''' ({{IPA|fr|tuʁkwɛ̃|lang|LL-Q150 (fra)-Jules78120-Tourcoing.wav}}; {{langx|nl|Toerkonje}} {{IPA|nl|tuːrˈkɔɲə|}}; {{langx|vls|Terkoeje}}; {{langx|pcd|Tourco}}) is a city in northern [[France]] on the [[Belgium|Belgian]] border. It is designated municipally as a [[Communes of France|commune]] within the [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Nord (French department)|Nord]].<ref>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/geographie/commune/59599-tourcoing INSEE commune file]</ref> Located to the north-northeast of [[Lille]], adjacent to [[Roubaix]], Tourcoing is the [[chef-lieu]] of two [[Cantons of France|cantons]] and the fourth largest city in the French [[Regions of France|region]] of [[Hauts-de-France]] ranked by population with about 97,000 inhabitants.

Together with the cities of Lille, Roubaix, [[Villeneuve-d'Ascq]] and eighty-six other [[Communes of France|communes]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lecluyse |first=Frédérick |date=December 16, 2016 |title=MEL : on prend les mêmes ou presque et on recommence |trans-title=MEL: let's take hardly the same ones and start over |language=fr |journal=[[Nord éclair|Nord Éclair]] |volume=73 |issue=349, ''ROUBAIX & SES ALENTOURS'' |location=Roubaix, F |publisher=La Voix du Nord, S.A. |pages=4 |issn=1277-1422 |quote=Bois-Grenier, Le Maisnil, Fromelles, Aubers et Radinghem-en-Weppes. Soit 6000 habitants supplémentaires pour une MEL qui compte désormais 90 communes… }}</ref> Tourcoing is part of four-city-centred [[metropolitan area]] inhabited by more than 1.1&nbsp;million people: the [[Métropole Européenne de Lille]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ezelin |first=Perrine |url=http://urbact.eu/sites/default/files/media/csi_europe_mel_lap_executive_summary.pdf |title=European Metropole of Lille Local Action Plan |publisher=CSI Europe URBACT |location=Edinburgh, UK |date=April 2, 2015 |page=3 |access-date=2015-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=URBACT |url=http://urbact.eu/lille-0 |title=Lille |location=Edinburgh, UK |date=May 29, 2015 |access-date=2015-07-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lillemetropole.fr/sites/lmcu/mel/espace-presse/communiques-de-presse/les-vp-et-conseillers-metropolit.html |title=Métropole Européenne de Lille : les vice-présidents et conseillers métropolitains délégués élus |trans-title=European Metropolis of Lille : elected vice-presidents and metropolitan delegate-councilors |last=Neveu |first=Clarisse |date=December 15, 2016 |series=Communiqué de presse |publisher=Métropole Européenne de Lille |location=Lille, F |language=fr |website=MEL |access-date=2016-12-18 |quote=La fusion, effective au 1er janvier 2017, acte un élargissement historique du territoire de la Métropole Européenne de Lille, passant de 85 à 90 communes pour près d'1.2 million d'habitants.}}</ref> To a greater extent, Tourcoing belongs to a vast [[conurbation]] formed with the Belgian cities of [[Mouscron]], [[Kortrijk]] and [[Tournai]], which gave birth to the first [[European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation]] in January 2008, ''[[Lille–Kortrijk–Tournai]]'' with an aggregate of just over 2 million inhabitants.<ref>{{cite web |last=Durand |first=Frédéric |url=http://www.euborderscapes.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/Working_Papers/EUBORDERSCAPES_Working_Paper_11_Durand_F.pdf |title=Theoretical framework of the cross border space production the case of the Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai |publisher=EUBORDERSCAPES |location=Luxembourg, L |date=May 12, 2015 |page=18 |access-date=2015-07-22}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Place de la Victoire.jpg|thumb|left|250px|''Place de la Victoire,'' Tourcoing.]]
The city was the site of a significant victory for France during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. Marshal [[Charles Pichegru]] and his [[general]]s [[Joseph Souham]] and [[Jean Victor Marie Moreau|Jean Moreau]] defeated a combined force of [[British Empire|British]] and [[Austro-Hungarian Empire|Austrian]] troops in the [[Battle of Tourcoing]] on [[French Republican calendar|29 Floréal II]] (18 May 1794).<ref>{{Cite book |title=The French Revolution 1787–1799 |last=Soboul |first=Albert |year=1975 |publisher=Vintage |location=USA |isbn=0-394-71220-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution00sobo/page/404 404] |url=https://archive.org/details/frenchrevolution00sobo/page/404 |url-access=registration }}</ref>

==Population==

{{Historical populations
| align = none
| cols = 2
| percentages = pagr
| source = EHESS<ref name=ehess>{{Cassini-Ehess|38378|Tourcoing}}</ref> and INSEE (1968-2017)<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-59599#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
| graph-pos = bottom
|1793 |12110
|1800 |11380
|1806 |11999
|1821 |14661
|1831 |17973
|1836 |19966
|1841 |22503
|1846 |26834
|1851 |27615
|1856 |29646
|1861 |33498
|1866 |38262
|1872 |43322
|1876 |48634
|1881 |51895
|1886 |58008
|1891 |65477
|1896 |73353
|1901 |79243
|1906 |81671
|1911 |82644
|1921 |78600
|1926 |81379
|1931 |81972
|1936 |78393
|1946 |76080
|1954 |83416
|1962 |89258
|1968 |98755
|1975 |102239
|1982 |96908
|1990 |93765
|1999 |93540
|2007 |92118
|2012 |92707
|2017 |97368
}}

==Main sights==
[[File:Tourcoing st christophe.JPG|thumb|Church of St Christopher]]

*Church of St Christopher (15th-16th centuries), considered one of the most beautiful Neo-Gothic edifices of Nord. In stone and brickwork, it has an {{convert|80|m|0|abbr=off|adj=on}} high bell tower with more than 80 bells.
*''Hospice de Havre'', founded in 1260. The cloister and the chapel date from the seventeenth century.
*''[[Hôtel de Ville, Tourcoing|Hôtel de Ville]]'' (1885), in [[Second Empire style]].<ref>{{Base Mérimée|PA00107840}}</ref>
*''[[Jardin botanique de Tourcoing]]'', a [[botanical garden]] and [[arboretum]].

==Transport==
The [[Tourcoing station]] is a railway station offering direct connections to Lille and Paris (high speed trains), Kortrijk, Ostend, Ghent and Antwerp. The town was formerly served by the [[Somain-Halluin Railway]]. The nearest airports to Tourcoing are [[Lille Airport]] which is located 23 km away and [[Brussels Airport]] which is located 117 km away.

==Notable people==
*[[Yohan Cabaye]] (born 1986), footballer 
*[[Jean-Marc Degraeve]] (born 1971), chess grandmaster
*[[Stéphane Denève]] (born 1971), conductor
* [[Achille Desurmont]] (1828–1898), writer
*[[Brigitte Fossey]] (born 1946), actress
*[[Anna Gomis]] (born 1973), wrestler
* [[Henri Padou]] (1898–1981), [[water polo]] player and [[Water polo at the 1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Olympic gold medallist]] 
*[[Brigitte Lahaie]] (born 1955), [[Pornographic film actor|pornstar]]
*[[Joseph-Charles Lefèbvre]] (1892–1973), [[bishop of Bourges]], [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], cousin of
*[[Marcel Lefebvre]] (1905–1991), missionary priest and, later, archbishop, cousin of Joseph-Charles
*[[Mr. Sam]] (born 1975), a popular deejay and producer running his own record label since 2008.
*[[Albert Roussel]] (1869–1937), composer
*[[Yves Devernay]] (1937–1990), organist

Guilbert de Lannoy (1545-{{Circa|1601}}) and his son Jean de Lannoy (1575-{{Circa|1605}}) were Protestants from Tourcoing who resettled in Leiden, Holland. Jean's son, [[Philip Delano]] ({{Circa|1603}} - {{Circa|1681-82}}; born ''Philipe de la Noye'' or ''Philipe de Lannoy''), was an early emigrant to the [[Plymouth Colony]] and progenitor of the prominent [[Delano family]], which counts among its descendants prominent figures in American history, including president [[Franklin Roosevelt]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Pilgrim Village Families Sketch: Phillip Delano/De la Noye|url=http://www.americanancestors.org/pilgrim-families-phillip-delano/|website=American Ancestors|publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society|access-date=24 August 2014}}</ref>

== Notable Startups ==

In 2013, Maxime Piquette and Charles De Potter founded iCreo, a digital audio company in Tourcoing. The company created RadioKing, a platform for internet radio, and [[Ausha]], a platform for podcast hosting and marketing.<ref>{{cite web |title=3 Questions a Maxime Piquette |url=https://alternatif-mag.fr/2020/12/21/3-questions-a-maxime-piquette-ceo-co-fondateur-de-ausha/ |publisher=City of Roubaix}}</ref> It received support from regional funders, Nord France Amorquage and IRD Gestion.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hamon-Beugin |first1=Valentin |title=Ausha, une start-up française à la conquête du marché des podcasts |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/ausha-une-start-up-francaise-a-la-conquete-du-marche-des-podcasts-20200703 |website=Economie |publisher=Le Figaro}}</ref> The company is now the platform for media outlets ''[[Le Figaro]]'', ''Liberation'', ''[[l'Équipe]]'' and AFP, as well as large corporations and independent content producers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tucker |first1=Charlotte |title=French startup Ausha raises €1.2 million to strengthen its podcast platform in France and Europe |url=https://www.eu-startups.com/2020/03/french-startup-ausha-raises-e1-2-million-to-strengthen-its-podcast-platform-in-france-and-europe/ |website=EU Startups |publisher=Menlo Media}}</ref>

==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in France}}

===Twin towns - sister cities===
Tourcoing is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:<ref>{{cite web |title=Villes Amies|url=https://www.tourcoing.fr/Ma-ville/Visite-guidee-de-Tourcoing/Villes-amies|website=tourcoing.fr|publisher=Tourcoing|language=fr|access-date=2019-12-10}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Biella]], Italy
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Bottrop]], Germany
*{{flagicon|POL}} [[Jastrzębie-Zdrój]], Poland
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Mitte|Mitte (Berlin)]], Germany
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Mühlhausen]], Germany
*{{flagicon|BLR}} [[Partyzanski District|Partyzanski (Minsk)]], Belarus
{{div col end}}

===Other forms of cooperation===
*{{flagicon|POR}} [[Guimarães]], Portugal
*{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Mouscron]], Belgium
*{{flagicon|ENG}} [[Rochdale]], England

==See also==
* [[Battle of Tourcoing (1794)]]
* [[Free Institution of Sacred Heart]]
* [[Communes of the Nord department]]
* [[Verlaine Message Museum]]
* [[CO Roubaix-Tourcoing]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tourcoing}}
* [http://www.ville-tourcoing.fr/ Tourcoing town council website] (in French)
* [http://www.tourcoing-volley.com/ Tourcoing Volley-Ball Lille Métropole] (Official website of the top team, in French)
* [http://www.antoniomucherino.it/en/photoalbum.php See pictures from Antonio Mucherino's web site]

{{European Metropolis Lille}}
{{Nord communes}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tourcoing| ]]
[[Category:Communes of Nord (French department)]]
[[Category:French Flanders]]