Arras

Chief town of the Gallic Atrebates; damaged by Attila in 451 and by Northmen in 800; ruled by Flanders; medieval center for tapestry manufacture; ceded to Maximilian of Austria in 1493; held by Spanish Hapsburgs 1640; taken by Louis XIII of France 1640; Arras was the birthplace of Robespierre; the French Revolution and both world wars destroyed many of its old buildings.