Labeled City of Art and History, Cambrai is a commune of the Hauts-de-France located in the department of Nord. It takes place about twenty kilometers from Douai, and about forty kilometers from Arras. Cambrai also benefits from a proximity to the Belgian border, which is only a hundred kilometers from Brussels.
A rural village in the Gallo-Roman period, Cambrai was mainly developed during the Merovingian period, becoming a city in its own right. The production of linen cloth and sheets, from that time, gives it a great place in the economic market of the country. Habsburg city in the sixteenth century, Cambrai found the kingdom of France in the seventeenth century. Strongly destroyed during the Second World War and the air raids, the commune of the North rebuilds itself in the stride, revealing nowadays a face pleasant to the tourists.
Although much of the heritage has disappeared over the centuries, the city of Cambrai still retains interesting sites to discover during a stay on site. Its gastronomy, with notably the famous Bêtises, also attracts visitors. The 18th-century Notre-Dame cathedral, the Jesuits chapel of Baroque style, the Saint-Géry church, the belfry, the Paris gateway, the Spanish timber-framed house dating from the 16th century, and the Notre-Dame gateway, are examples of the rich heritage of the city of Art and of History of Cambrai. The Aristide Briand square, the heart of the town's action, is dominated by the silhouette of the bell tower of the town hall and its two famous jacquemarts (mechanical human figures) Martin and Martine.
The Fine art museum, housed in a 18th-century mansion, is home to collections of archaeology, paintings and sculptures, as well as a relief map of Cambrai in the 17th century.
For war buffs, there was an important WWI battle here: https://www.army.mil/article/197224/battle_of_cambrai_remembered_100_years_later_for_combined_arms_use
