From the non-digital archive: Lyon in 1993

A place to cool off – this fountain in Lyon bears a line of poetry – ‘Permets m’Amour penser quelque folie’, which I have seen translated as ‘Do not chide me for this play on words’, from the 18th sonnet of Louise Labé, who lived in Lyon in the 16th century

We are having a mini heatwave in the UK at the moment and I am struggling to cope. It’s strange how there would be no problem with these temperatures if I were on holiday abroad. I have been going through my old 35mm negatives again and decided to share these images of one of my favourite French cities – Lyon, which sits on the rivers Rhône and Saône not too far from the border with Switzerland.

Once again I realise what better pictures I could take today with a digital camera. But for now I at least have my memories of this sunny city with its wonderful fountains, statues and old buildings.

These playful characters are revelling in the fountain, in Place Louis Pradel near the Opéra Nouvel – it’s Le Soleil by Jean Robert Ipoustéguy (1982) but I think these figures have now been removed?

The Opéra Nouvel, to the north of central Lyon, was redesigned between 1985 and 1993, within the original 1831 building

In my memory, Lyon is divided into areas around the stations of the Metro system, as that is the way we travelled around. It’s wonderful and I loved the way the on-train announcers enunciated the station names with gusto, such as Bellecour, Perrache, Croix-Rousse, Brotteaux and Foch.

We stayed in a hotel close to a central square in Lyon called Bellecour. This heart of Lyon is on a long tongue of land with the Saône running down the western side and the Rhône running down the eastern side, until the two rivers meet at the southern point of the peninsula.

Place Bellecour is the biggest pedestrian square in Europe

In the middle of Bellecour is this equestrian statue of Louis XIV by François-Frédéric Lemot (1825)

Beneath the equestrian statue are two representations of the Saône and the Rhône, made by brothers Nicolas and Guillaume Costou in 1720 – I think this is the Rhône, as it is depicted as male, while the Saône is female…

…another statue in Place des Cordeliers shows both Le Rhône and La Saône, although the male character is rather dominant! It was sculpted in 1907 by André Vermare (1869-1942)

At the corner of Bellecour, on the Place Antonin-Poncet, there is the bell tower of the old Hôpital de la Charité, destroyed in 1934 – only the belltower, built in 1665-66 remains

These fountains nearby are so refreshing!

The belltower at night

The fountains are also an attraction on hot summer nights

Our hotel at night – the Globe et Cecil in Rue Gasparin – is still there, close to Bellecour

This was a landmark on the corner to show us the way back to the hotel, but I have only just discovered what it is – a monument to five young resistance fighters killed in World War II

Bridge of the Palais de Justice over the Saône

Bonaparte Bridge, also over the Saône, leads to the old city

The old buildings of Lyon are a beautiful golden or pink colour…

…which is also reflected in several ‘trompe-l’œil’ pieces of art on building walls

Old Lyon (Vieux Lyon), to the west of the Saône at the foot of the Fourvière hill, is a protected area of Renaissance buildings, divided into three sections – Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges. Here rich bankers and merchants lived in the Middle Ages and it was the centre of silk weaving from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Glorious buildings of Old Lyon – many had ‘traboules’ or covered walkways that helped silk weavers carry their wares without exposing them to bad weather

Narrow streets

There are many courtyards

On the river side of Old Lyon is the Roman Catholic cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon), built between the 12th and 15th centuries – above it on the hill can be seen the Fourvière basilica

Lyon Cathedral

The Fourviere basilica

This seems to be David with the head of Goliath

The red rooftops of Lyon, viewed from the Fourvière basilica – the two rivers can be seen lined with green trees

Illuminated basilica and cathedral by night

Also on Fourvière hill is the ancient theatre built by the Romans in the middle of their city of Lugdunum, which was founded in 43 BC

To the east of the city, across the Rhône, is Part Dieu, a big shopping centre built in 1975 – when we visited in 1993 it seemed state-of-the-art

This is a detail from a fountain by Jean Robert Ipoustéguy at Part Dieu rail station

To the north of Part Dieu is the big Parc de la Tête d’Or (park of the golden head) – there was a legend that a statue head of Christ was buried somewhere here

I love this golden statue of a female centaur and male faun sculpted by Augustin Courtet in 1849…

…the other side of the statue in Parc de la Tête d’Or

Statue of Lyon naturalist Bernard de Jussieu (1699-1777) by Pierre Aubert (1853-1912)

The gardens were very traditional…

…but there were some interesting modern sculptures like this Naïade by André Tajana (1960)

A magnificent glasshouse – what fun I would have now with a digital camera!

Inside the glasshouse – very Victorian, or whatever the French equivalent of that would be

There was a small zoo but it was rather sad

At the entrance to the park is the Monument des enfants du Rhône dedicated to soldiers who died during the Franco-German War of 1870 – the sculptor was Étienne Pagny (1829-1898)

Here are a couple more random statues…

A statue of physicist André-Marie Ampère, 1775-1836, who was born in Lyon – we name the unit of electrical current after him

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) was a Lyon weaver and merchant and invented the Jacquard loom which used punch cards to make brocades with complicated patterns

Not far to the north of Place Bellecour is Place des Jacobins, with this fountain at its centre – it was inaugurated in 1885 and shows four local painters, Gérard Audran (shown here), Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, Guillaume Coustou and Philibert de l’Orme (the one on the left)

Very art nouveau mermaid with a spouting fish at the base of the fountain

And finally…

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned the restaurants! Lyon is possibly the food capital of the world and this is one of the busy streets full of eateries at night – I think it was Rue des Marronniers, although the best restaurants were over in Old Lyon

Ah, memories…