Vieux Lyon

Vieux Lyon is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon, France. In 1964, it became the first site in France to be protected under a special law to save important cultural places. It covers 424 hectares between the Fourvière hill and the river Saône and is one of Europe’s biggest Renaissance neighborhoods. It has three main parts: Saint Jean, Saint Paul, and Saint Georges.

The Saint Jean quarter was very important in the Middle Ages for politics and religion. The Cathedral of St Jean, a beautiful example of Gothic architecture, is located here. Nearby is the Manécanterie, one of Lyon’s few remaining Romanesque buildings, which now holds a museum of the cathedral’s treasures. Saint Jean also has a museum of miniatures and film sets in a building that was once an inn.

The Saint-Paul section was where Italian bankers and merchants lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. They built large, fancy homes called hôtels particuliers, such as the Hôtel Bullioud and the Hôtel de Gadagne. The latter now houses the Lyon Historical Museum and the International Puppet Museum. The Saint Paul church, with its tall tower and spire, marks the northern end of this area.

The Saint Georges section was where silk weavers lived starting in the 16th century. Later, they moved to the Croix Rousse hill. The St George's Church was rebuilt in a neo-Gothic style in 1844. In the Middle Ages, special passages called traboules were built between the hill and the Saône River to connect different streets. Many of these passages, with their galleries and spiral staircases, are still there today.

Saint-Paul

Saint-Paul is the area around Gare Saint-Paul, a train station that opened in 1873, and it also has a church with the same name. This church was first built a long time ago, in the year 549, and it was rebuilt again in the 11th and 12th centuries. The area is an important school zone in Vieux Lyon, home to two big schools called les Maristes and les Lazaristes.