Every design for Valenciennes

Inside the Musée des Beaux-Arts, it is easy to see why Valenciennes earned the nickname 'the Athens of the North'. Step outside and you are in the old capital of the County of Hainaut, a city that has belonged in turn to France, the Spanish Netherlands and the Southern Netherlands.

What makes Valenciennes stand apart is how much history has crossed it. It lies on the Scheldt, the Escaut in French, where the Rhonelle joins it, and the canalised river still runs west of the historic centre towards Belgium, the Netherlands and the North Sea. In the sixteenth century it was an early centre of Calvinism and the scene of fierce struggles during the Dutch revolt; later, French armies besieged it, Vauban among them. In the nineteenth century the Compagnie des mines d'Anzin sank pits around the city, and the concrete headframe of the fosse Dutemple still stands as a reminder of the coal years. The Citadelle de Valenciennes and the Maison du prévot keep other eras in view, while the Belgian border lies just a few kilometres east.

If you are from Valenciennes, you already know that its story is bigger than its size. Wear it with that quiet pride.