The facade of Calais Town Hall, highlighting its remarkable architecture, its iconic clock and its golden statues under a beautiful light.

Calais Town Hall, a century-old building

The centenary of the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of Calais Town Hall will take place on April 12, 2025. A festive program will celebrate the event from April 12 to 20, 2025.

Centenary Celebrations

Du 11 in April 20 2025, the City of Calais offers a rich program to honor its City Hall. The historic addition of the Republican motto “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” on the façade will also mark this anniversary, further anchoring the City Hall in the national heritage.

To mark the centenary of Calais Town Hall, the Monnaie de Paris has struck a limited edition commemorative coin (4 copies, silver and gold versions), available at the Belfry reception.

The Video Mapping Festival is coming to Calais! The façade of the Town Hall becomes a canvas where the legends, history, and heritage of the city intertwine. Join us on April 19 and 20 for performances at 21:30 p.m., 22:00 p.m., and 22:30 p.m.

All the details of the mapping

Symbol of Calais identity

For a century, the Town Hall and its Belfry embody the history and identity of Calais. Their construction marks the union in 1885 of Calais the port, a fortified and military medieval city, and Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais the lacemaker, whose industrial boom developed around the production of Leavers mechanical lace. This event profoundly transformed the territory, giving birth to a larger and more prosperous city.

Calais City Hall is much more than an administrative building: it symbolises the ambition of a city looking towards the future, while honouring its past. Located in the heart of this reunified territory, it dominates the former Sahara Plain, a formerly unoccupied space that has become a nerve center of Calais life. Its belfry, culminating at 75 meters, is now registered in the Unesco World Heritage, reinforcing its status as an essential icon of the urban landscape.

Calais Town Hall and its Belfry, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, seen from the gardens.

Focus

The Spring of Art Deco

Art Deco is also 100 years old

The Printemps de l'Art Déco is an annual event that celebrates Art Deco heritage in Hauts-de-France. For the 2025 edition, which marks the centenary of this artistic movement, the festivities will take place from April 4 to June 1, bringing together 23 partner cities and tourist offices. Calais is taking part and is offering around fifteen visits and events for this 2025 edition!

The entire 2025 program

Poster of the Art Deco Spring 2025 edition

Reflection of its time

The Town Hall is the result of an architectural competition launched at the end of the 19th century and won by Louis DebrouwerThe latter designs a monumental building combining the styles Flemish and Renaissance, a choice that pays tribute to the Franco-Flemish heritage of the region. The richness of the materials used, notably the red brick of Courtrai and the white stone of Marquise, gives the whole a singular elegance. But the Hôtel de Ville de Calais is not limited to its exterior appearance. Its interior is a true decorative masterpiece, illustrating the exceptional know-how of the time:

Detail of the ironwork of the Calais Town Hall, made by Adalbert Szabo. A goldsmith's work mixing arabesques and floral motifs, capturing the elegance of the neo-Flemish architecture of this emblematic monument listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The interior staircase of the Town Hall and its stained glass windows.

Adalbert Szabo's ironwork, whose floral and geometric motifs typical of Art Deco adorn the staircases and doors.
The stained glass windows of Gustave Pierre Dagrant, which capture the light and recall the importance of stained glass in monumental architecture.
The sculptures of Jules Desbois, a former collaborator of Rodin, who enrich the façade with figures symbolizing lace and fishing, the two historic economic pillars of the city.

The interior of the belfry of Calais Town Hall, offering a unique view of the back of the clock face, illuminated by the exterior light.

The golden statue of the Duke of Guise sits atop the belfry of Calais Town Hall, recalling the reconquest of the town by France in 1558.

140 years of union between Saint-Pierre and Calais

The merger of Calais and Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais in 1885 marked a turning point in local history. Before this union, each commune had its own Town Hall: Calais with a medieval belfry that has disappeared, and Saint-Pierre with a neo-classical building that has since become courthouse.

Le merger decree then plans to build a new City Hall, symbolizing this union. The chosen location, known as Sahara Plain, was located at the junction of the two communes. Built in reinforced concrete, a major innovation for its time, the Hôtel de Ville is a model of modernity. It reflects the dynamics of urban reconstruction that followed the First World War, a period when Art Deco established itself as a leading architectural style. Inaugurated on 12 April 1925, it embodies both the tradition and the renewal of Calais, testifying to the unique identity of this city between land and sea. Their construction marks the union in 1885 of Calais the port et Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais the lacemaker, thus sealing a major transformation of the territory. Today, this building is an essential landmark, overlooking the city.