Lyon

Lyon

Lyonnaise depuis mes études supérieures (cela remonte à l'automne 1974), il était logique que je commence c site par quelques photos de celle qui est devenue ma ville d'adoption !

Située au confluent du Rhône et de la Saône, Lyon est dominée par deux collines : Fourvière et la Croix-Rousse, séparées par la Saône. Vers 1850, Jules Michelet les avait surnommées respectivement la « colline qui prie », (basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière, nombreux couvents, siège de l'Évêché) et la « colline qui travaille »(lieu où résidaient les canuts, petites mains de la confection des tissus et du tissage de la soie).

On trouve dans les quartiers du Vieux Lyon (Saint Jean) et de la Croix-Rousse de nombreux cheminements au sein des immeubles, dénommés traboules qui permettent de se rendre d'une rue à une autre en traversant les cours d'immeubles.

Sur la Presqu'île, entre le Rhône et la Saône, se trouve la place Bellecour, la plus grande place piétonne d'Europe, au centre de laquelle trône la statue équestre de Louis XIV.

De Lugdunum, cité romaine et capitale des Trois provinces des Gaules, à Lyon, ville ouverte à l'international et grande aire urbaine de France, l'histoire de la ville passe par une longue appartenance à l'Empire romain, un rayonnement religieux qui éleva l'évêque de Lyon au rang de Primat des Gaules (mais déchira sa population lors des guerres de religion).

Lyon, royaliste pendant la Révolution française, est destituée de son nom jusqu'à la prise de pouvoir de Napoléon Bonaparte, le futur Empereur des Français.

Ses célèbres canuts (ouvriers soyeux) furent de grands acteurs de sa révolution industrielle, période qui vit également l'inauguration entre 1830 et 1832 de la première grande ligne française (58 km) de chemin de fer reliant Saint-Étienne à Lyon. Lyon a vu naître de grandes inventions comme le métier à tisser de Jacquard, la machine à coudre par Thimmonier, et le cinématographe des Frères Lumière.

Lyon est reconnue comme capitale de la Résistance, grâce notamment aux activités clandestines du préfet Jean Moulin pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale dans cette ville.

Par sa population, c'est la troisième ville de France (après Paris et Marseille) si l'on compte uniquement la population intra-muros ou la seconde si l'on prend en compte toute l'aire urbaine ou celle de son unité urbaine.

Les habitants de Lyon sont les Lyonnais. Le parler lyonnais donne également aux jeunes personnes le surnom de gones (garçons) et de fenottes (filles). La devise de la commune est Avant, Avant, Lion le Melhor. La sainte patronne est sainte Blandine. Les armoiries de Lyon sont constituées de gueules au lion d'argent, au chef cousu du Royaume de France (d'azur à trois fleurs de lys d'or).

La ville a conservé un patrimoine important allant de l'époque romaine au XXe siècle en passant par la Renaissance et, à ce titre, est inscrite au Patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco.

Les armoiries de la ville de Lyon - The arms of the city

Vidéo tournée depuis la place Rouville, au bas des pentes de la Croix Rousse, août 2009

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8xfz_lyon-vue-depuis-la-place-rouville_travel

Living in Lyon since I graduated (Fall 1974), it was logical I started with a few pictures of my city of adoption !

A bit of History

Lyon, also known as Lyons in English is a city in east central France. It is a major centre of business, situated between Paris and Marseilles, and has a reputation as the French capital of gastronomy and a significant role in the history of cinema.

Together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Lyon forms the second largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, with 1,783,400 inhabitants at the 2007 estimate, and approximately the 20th to 25th largest metropolitan area of Western Europe.

Lyon is the préfecture (capital) of the Rhône département, and also the capital of the Rhône-Alpes région. It is known as the silk capital of the world and is known for its silk and textiles and is a centre for fashion. Lyon is also the international headquarters of Interpol and EuroNews. It belongs since 1998 to the list of Unesco World Heritage sites in Europe.

Lyon was founded as a Roman colony in 43 BCE by Munatius Plancus, a lieutenant of Caesar, on the site of a Gaulish hill-fort settlement called Lug[o]dunon—from the Celtic sun god Lugus ('Light', cognate with Old Irish Lugh, Modern Irish Lú) and dúnon (hill-fort). Lyon was first named Lughunum meaning the "hill of lights" or "the hill of crows". Lug was equated by the Romans to Mercury. The three parts of Gaul mentioned by Caesar met at Lyon. Agrippa recognized that Lugdunum's position on the natural highway from northern to south-eastern France made it a natural communications hub, and he made Lyon the starting point of the principal Roman roads throughout Gaul. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly thanks to its fortunate site at the convergence of two navigable rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in this city: Claudius and Caracalla. Today the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as "le primat des Gaules". The Christians in Lyon were persecuted for their religious views under the reigns of the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. These included saints such as Blandina (Blandine), Pothinus, and Epipodius, among others. The great Christian bishop of Lyon in the 2nd century was the Easterner Irenaeus.

Burgundian refugees from the destruction of Worms by Huns in 437 were resettled by the military commander of the west, Aëtius, at Lugdunum, which was formally the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom by 461.
In 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I, and later became a part of the Kingdom of Arles. Lyon only came under French control in the fourteenth century.

The fairs in Lyon, the invention of Italian merchants, made it the economic countinghouse of France in the late 15th century. When international banking moved to Genoa, then Amsterdam, Lyon simply became the banking centre of France; its new Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, still resembled a public bazaar where accounts were settled in the open air. During the Renaissance, the city developed with the silk trade, especially with Italy; the Italian influence on Lyon's architecture can still be seen. Thanks to the silk trade, Lyon became an important industrial town during the 19th century.

Lyon was a scene of mass violence against Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacres in 1572.

The silk workers of Lyon, known as canuts, staged two major uprisings: in 1831 and 1834. The 1831 uprising saw one of the first recorded uses of the black flag as an emblem of protest.
Lyon was a centre for the occupying German forces and also a stronghold of resistance during World War II, and the city is now home to a resistance museum.The traboules, or secret passages, through the houses enabled the local people to escape Gestapo raids.

Some geography

Lyon's geography is dominated by the Rhône and Saône rivers which converge to the south of the historic city centre forming a sort of peninsula or "presqu'île"; two large hills, one to the west and one to the north of the historic city centre; and a large plain which sprawls eastward from the historic city centre.

To the west is Fourviere, known as "the hill that prays", the location for the highly decorated Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica, several convents, the palace of the Archbishop, the Tour métallique (a highly visible TV tower, replicating the last stage of the Eiffel Tower) and a funicular.

To the north is the Croix-Rousse, "the hill that works", traditionally home to many small silk workshops, an industry for which the city was renowned.

The original medieval city (Vieux Lyon) was built on the west bank of the Saône river at the foot of the Fourvière hill, west of the presqu'île. (This area, along with portions of the presqu'ile and much of the Croix-Rousse are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.)

On the peninsula (presqu'île) between the rivers Rhône and Saône is located the third largest public square in France, and one of the largest in Europe, the Place Bellecour. Specifically, it is the largest clear square (i.e., without any patches of greenery, trees or any other kind of obstacles) in Europe. The broad, pedestrian-only Rue de la République leads north from Place Bellecour.

East of the Rhône from the presqu'île is a large area of flat ground upon which sits much of modern Lyon and most of the city's population. Situated in this area is the urban centre of Part-Dieu which clusters the former Crédit Lyonnais Tower (central France's only skyscraper), the Part-Dieu shopping centre, and Lyon's main rail terminal, Lyon Part-Dieu.
North of this district is the relatively wealthy 6th arrondissement, which is home to the Parc de la Tête d'Or, one of Europe's largest urban parks, the prestigious Lycée du Parc to the south of the park, and Interpol's headquarters on the park's western edge.

Lyon is the capital of the Rhône-Alpes région, the préfecture of the Rhône département, and the capital of 14 cantons, covering 1 commune, and with a total population of 488.300 (2007).

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa9hho_une-vue-de-lyon-depuis-la-place-rou_travel

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