Lyon << lyawn >> (pop. 515,695; met. area pop. 2,310,850) is France’s third largest city. Only Paris and Marseille have more people. Lyon lies in southeastern France. The city serves as the capital of the Rhône department (administrative district) and of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
The Rhône and Saône rivers meet at Lyon. They divide the city into three parts—the west bank of the Saône, the peninsula between the two rivers, and the east bank of the Rhône. Docks and warehouses line the riverfront.
The district of Vieux (Old) Lyon on the west bank of the Saône has many beautiful buildings that date from the Renaissance (the late 1400’s to early 1600’s) or earlier. The Cathedral of St. Jean, built between the late 1100’s and about 1480, is one of the landmarks of the district.
Lyon’s main commercial and entertainment district lies on the peninsula between the two rivers. The Church of St. Martin d’Ainay, much of which dates from the 1100’s, was built in this district. The Croix-Rousse neighborhood stands just north of the peninsula. Its towering houses date from the 1800’s, when Lyon was a global center of silk production. Skilled weavers lived in these houses, which were built with high ceilings to hold the huge Jacquard looms the weavers used.
The newest area of Lyon is on the east bank of the Rhône. It includes factories, a large university complex, and many attractive residences.
Lyon is famous for the production of textiles, especially silk and rayon. Textile, chemical, automobile, and metal goods plants are concentrated in the surrounding suburbs. Lyon is a major center for medical and scientific research. Lyon also gained fame as a world capital of gastronomy—that is, the study of cooking and eating. The area is known for its wines and cheeses and fine restaurants. High-speed trains called trains à grande vitesse, or TGV, link Lyon to Paris and Marseille.
In 43 B.C., Roman soldiers established a colony on the site of what is now Lyon. The town, then known as Lugdunum, served as an important administrative center of the Roman Empire until the middle of the A.D. 200’s. Lyon became part of the kingdom of France in the early 1300’s. During the 1400’s, the city became a prosperous trading and banking center and home to many book printers. The introduction of silk manufacturing from Italy in the 1500’s brought greater, and long-lasting, prosperity. Lyon was a center of French resistance to German occupation forces during World War II (1939-1945).
See also Rhône River; Saône River.
