Lyon is located approximately 292 miles
from Paris, 199 miles from Marseille and 99 miles from Geneva. Two major rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, runs through the town. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais. It is the second largest city, in
France, with a metropolitan population of over 2 million inhabitants.
In 43 BC the Roman military colony of Lugdunum (Lyon) was founded on Fourviere Hill, which now overlooks the present city from the west. It
served as the capital of the Roman territories known as the Three Gauls under
Augustus, but had to wait until the 15th century for fame and fortune to
strike. With the arrival of move able type in 1473, Lyon became one of Europe’s foremost publishing centers, with several hundred
resident printers contributing to the city’s extraordinary prosperity.
By the mid-18th century, the city’s influential silk weavers – 40% of
Lyon’s total workforce – transformed what had already been a textiles center
since the 15th century into the silk-weaving capital of Europe. By the early 19th century, Lyon had tripled in size, boasting
a population of 340,000 people and 100,000 weaving looms.
In 1870 the Lumiere family moved to Lyon, and sons Louis and Auguste
shot the first moving picture – of workers exiting their father’s photographic
factory – in 1895. Cinema’s birth was an instant winner.
During WWII some 4,000 people (including Resistance leader Jean Moulin)
were killed and 7,500 others deported to Nazi death camps under Gestapo chief
Klaus Barbie (1913–91), the ‘butcher of Lyon’. Nazi rule ended in September
1944, when the retreating Germans blew up all but two of Lyon’s 28 bridges. A
Lyon court sentenced Barbie to death in absentia in 1952 and again in 1954, but
it was not until 1987, following his extradition from Bolivia (where he had
settled after WWII), that he was tried in person in Lyon for crimes against
humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. The 72-year-old died in prison
three years later.
The international police agency Interpol has been headquartered in Lyon
since 1989.
Today, the city has developed a reputation as
the capital of gastronomy in France. The city is also known for its famous
light festival "Fete des Lumieres" which occurs every December 8th and lasts
for four days, that earned Lyon the title of Capital of Lights (not to be mixed
up with Paris the city of light). Over 4 million people attended last years' festival.
Lyon is considered to be the "Capitale de Gastronomique" of France with 2 principal approaches to dining. First is classic French cuisine featuring the complex sauces and formal presentation. The second important approach to dining out is at a restaurant called a Bouchon. These are generally small places that do a great job with peasant food. Le Bon Bourgeois, is such a place, where we enjoyed salade Lyonnaise, escargot, goat cheese, lemony pasta and other simple, yummy stuff.
Cathédrale
Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon (St John’s Cathedral of Lyon).
This Roman Catholic cathedral was founded by
Saint Pothinus and Saint Irenaeus, the first two bishops of Lyon. It is the
seat of the Archbishop of Lyon. The cathedral is also known as a
"Primatiale" because in 1079 the Pope granted to the archbishop of
Lyon the title of Primate Of All the Gauls with the legal supremacy over the
principal archbishops of the kingdom.
Begun in the twelfth century on the ruins of a
6th century church, it was completed in 1476. The building is 265 feet long
(internally), 66 feet wide at the choir, and 107 feet high in the nave.
Noteworthy are two crosses to right and
left of the altar, preserved since the council of 1274 as a symbol of the union
of the churches, and the Bourbon chapel, built by the Cardinal de Bourbon and
his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in-law of Louis XI, a masterpiece of 15th
century sculpture.
The cathedral also has a working 14th
century astronomical clock (a clock with special mechanisms and dials to
display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the sun,
moon, zodiacal constellations and major planets.)
Until the construction of the Basilica of
Notre-Dame de Fourviere,
it was the pre-eminent church in Lyon
From the base of Fourviere Hill we too a funicular to visit this church. As you exit the funicular, this is the view of the church.
Construction was started in 1872 and finally
completed in 1884. It has four main towers, and a bell tower topped with a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary. It features fine mosaics, superb stained glass and a crypt of Saint Joseph.
Fourviere actually contains two churches, one on top of the other. The upper sanctuary is very ornate, while the lower is a much simpler design.
Fourviere actually contains two churches, one on top of the other. The upper sanctuary is very ornate, while the lower is a much simpler design.
The Basilica is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who
not only saved the city of Lyon from a cholera endemic sweeping Europe in 1823,
but during the Franco-Prussian War
(1870-1), Prussian forces, having taken Paris, were progressing south towards Lyon.
Their halt and retreat were attributed, by the Church, to the intercession of
the Virgin Mary.
Perched on top of the Fourviere hill, the
basilica looms impressively over the city of Lyon, from where it can be seen
from many vantage points; the
basilica has become a symbol of the city.
It has four main towers, and a bell tower topped
with a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary. It features fine mosaics, superb
stained glass and a crypt of
Saint Joseph.
Fourviere actually contains two churches, one
on top of the other. The upper sanctuary is very ornate, while the lower is a
much simpler design.
In 1168, a chapel was built to Our Lady
on the hilltop of Fourviere. This chapel was destroyed in 1562 by the Baron des
Adrets (a notorious persecutor of catholics) but the chapel was soon rebuilt. As a side note, Baron des Adrest converted to Catholicisms before his death in 1587.
Marian devotion continued to develop in Fourviere, becoming especially popular when in 1638 King Louis XIII consecrated
France to the Virgin Mary
In 1643 the people of Lyons consecrated
themselves to Our Lady Fourviere and pledged themselves to make a solemn
procession on September 8th of each year, in thanksgiving for her saving the city of Lyon from a cholera endemic. On that day, the people make a present
to the Virgin of a seven-pound candle and a gold coin. This annual procession
continues to this day.
In 1830, the steeple of the chapel was
deemed to be in poor condition and unsafe, and it was demolished. It was then decided that a
golden statue of Mary would be added to the re-built steeple. The inauguration of the
renovated chapel was initially scheduled for September 8, 1852, feast of the
Nativity of Mary, but heavy rains instead flooded the foundry where the statue
was stored, causing the inauguration to be moved to December 8th.
The statue was installed but again the
weather was uncooperative, so the planned fireworks and festivities had to be
cancelled. The people of Lyon, undismayed by this, put out lanterns on their
windowsills when the rain abated later in the evening, as a sign of their
devotion. This episode is at the origin of the street illuminations of December
8th, an annual tradition in Lyons nowadays.
The Roman ruins on Fourviere Hill.
The Lyon Amphitheater, pictured above, is often referred to as the Amphitheatre des Trois Gaules (or Amphitheater of the Three Gauls), is among the oldest ruins to be unearthed in France.
La Fontaine Bartholdi.
According
to many travel web sites, this is one of the most famous statues in all of France.
This
massive bronze structure, which sits in front of Lyon’s City Hall, was designed
by Frederic Bartholdi in 1888, two years after he completed work on the Stature
of Liberty.
The fountain depicts France as a female seated
on a chariot controlling the four great rivers of France; Seine, Loire, Rhone and Garonne represented by
wildly rearing and plunging horses, highly individualized but symmetrically
arranged, with bridles and reins of water weeds. The statue weighs 21 tons and is made of lead supported by a
frame of iron.
