The History of Lyon – Commerce, Architecture and Culinary Arts

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big believer that historical knowledge greatly enhances a trip, which is exactly why I highly recommend that anyone traveling to the city read my article onHistory of Paris.

Since Lyon is the second most important city in France, it is natural that it would have a rich and fascinating history, no less than that of the City of Lights, its great rival. The goal of this article is to try to bring you the story of Lyon in a concise way (because we are on the internet after all), but also in a way that will give you a basic idea of ​​what you see and what happened in the alleys and streets you will walk through.

Please enter the time machine and we will travel back about two thousand years.

From Ludogonom to Lyon

The settlement that would eventually become the city of Lyon was created in 43 BC by Munatius Plancus, a lieutenant of Julius Caesar, conqueror of Gaul.

The city's first inhabitants were mainly veteran soldiers of Julius Caesar, who had received estates in Gaul, but also local residents. Within a few years, the city became the Roman capital of Gaul and reached a peak of about 50,000 inhabitants (a huge number for those days).

The Roman colony from which Lyon would develop was founded on the Fourvière hill and was called Lugdunum, meaning “the desired mountain.” Since it was the capital of Gaul, it is not surprising that the largest amphitheater in Gaul (which could hold up to 20,000 people) was built there, and fortunately its remains can still be seen in the Pentes de Croux-Rousse neighborhood.

There was also an altar near the amphitheater, where all the leaders of Gaul would come once a year to swear allegiance to the Roman emperor. Unfortunately, this altar has disappeared and archaeologists are still searching for it.

In 10 BC, he was born in Logdonum – who would later become Emperor Claudius (known to us from the wonderful series “I Am Claudius” that aired on educational television). When Claudius became emperor, he allowed the city’s nobility to be elected to the Senate in Rome, and in order for everyone to know about it, he created a kind of copper plates, on which the decree was published. These copper plates were found not far from the amphitheater, and therefore the street where they were found is still called Rue des Tables Claudiennes.

After the formation of Christianity, the first Christian community of Gaul settled in Logdonum, led by Saint Irenaeus, who was a disciple of a disciple of Jesus himself. The closeness of the founder of the Christian community of Lyon to Jesus is the reason why the bishop of Lyon received the title of “Primat de Gaules”.

With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the infrastructure of the city on the Fourviere Hill began to decay, and after the aqueduct that brought water to the hill collapsed, the city's residents had no choice but to abandon the hill and establish the city closer to the river.

Lyon in the Middle Ages

It may surprise you to know, but Lyon was not a city French Until 1312. Before that, it was part of the Holy Roman Empire. About 150 years before Lyon became part of the French Kingdom, construction of the cathedral began, and as in the case of other cathedrals, such as Notre Dame of ParisSeveral hundred years passed before construction was completed.

In the case of Lyon Cathedral, it is three hundred years (construction began in 1180 and ended in 1480), making it the second oldest Gothic structure in France, after Basilica of Saint-Denis.

It is said that during the coronation, a wall collapsed due to the large number of people leaning on it, and quite a few people were killed. The Pope, who was frightened, lost one of his gems in that disaster, which has not been found to this day, and which provides a living for quite a few “Indiana Jones” heirs who are looking for it.

If you want to discover the Lyon of the early and late Middle Ages, you must visit the neighborhood called “Old Lyon” (Vieux Lyon) and I assure you that in the future you will be able to find a walking route here that will help you discover its secrets.

Lyon during the Renaissance

During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Lyon developed an extensive trade with kingdoms, principalities, and republics from the Italian peninsula. Why did Lyon become such an important trading center? Because the only bridge over the Rhône River passed through the city, merchants from the Italian peninsula had to pass through Lyon on their way to Paris and other cities in the north. France.

It is therefore not surprising that many merchants settled in Lyon and turned it into an important trading center for silk, which came from Florence, and other luxuries. This all became established in the late 15th century, when King Charles VIII (reigned 8-1483) allowed Lyon to hold four annual fairs in the Place Au Change, and Lyon became an important commercial center.

These wealthy merchants began to build luxurious houses for themselves in Lyon, some of which, such as Maison Tomassin, still exist today.

The Italian presence in the city and the fact that the king's armies passed through here on their way to try to conquer the Italian peninsula, or back, made Lyon a kind of "Renaissance capital of France." This is why it produced some of the most important Renaissance architects of France, including Philibert Delorme (1514-1570), known to us as the first architect of the Renaissance palace at Fontainebleau.

These architects left us some of Lyon's most impressive architectural marvels, chief among them the Hôtel de Bullioud, located on Rue de la Juiverie, because it is well known that where there is money, our people will also come :-).

If you thought that during the Renaissance all the French did was build palaces and import delicious food from Italy, you were wrong. This was also the period of the Wars of Religion (1559-1598), during which much blood was shed. This war of religion also affected Lyon, when in 1562 the Protestants managed to take control of Lyon, and in a widespread campaign of vandalism they destroyed quite a few beautiful statues in the local cathedral.

The formation of modern Lyon (17th-19th centuries)

In 1643, the mayors of Lyon, as a thank you for saving the city from the plague, decided to dedicate Lyon to Saint Mary and build a church in her honor. They decided to place it on the Fourvière hill, which had been abandoned in the early Middle Ages, and built a relatively small and modest church. However, in the 19th century, in order to celebrate the fact that the Prussians did not besiege Lyon, it was decided to upgrade the church and the result is the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

In the late 18th century, theFrench RevolutionAlthough the revolution began in Paris, it spread throughout France, causing a kind of civil war, as some cities and provinces did not support the central government. Lyon was one of the rebel cities, and Joseph Fouché (1759-1821), the future Napoleon's mythical Minister of Police, was sent there to suppress the rebellion.

Without hesitation, Fussac began massacring the rebels (including women and children) by tying them to posts and shelling them with cannons. It is no wonder that Fussac received the title “The Butcher of Lyon,” and the massacre he committed is deeply etched in the annals of the city.

The early 19th century saw a major revolution in the silk industry, which, as you read earlier, was one of the pillars of Lyon. In 1804, Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) invented a mechanized loom, which allowed one person to weave silk, instead of the two people required for the craft in the past.

This weaving loom was based on punched cards with which the machine could be programmed, and therefore the loom was a kind of primitive “computer.” Of course, not everyone was happy about the invention, and in 1831 a revolt broke out in Lyon by unemployed silk workers. Today, there are only a few people in the city who know how to operate a loom, and anyway, most of this industry has long since moved to the Far East. Thus passes world fame…

By the way, not only did the weaving loom come from Lyon, but another invention, which everyone mistakenly thinks originated in Paris. I am of course talking about theBatu MoshThese riverboats, which have become an integral part of Paris, were created at the Mouche shipyards in Lyon in 1867, to allow tourists who came to Paris for the exhibition of that year to cruise the Seine easily and with great pleasure.

The Twentieth Century: Between Occupation and Resistance

In 1940, France was occupied by the Nazis and divided into two: the occupation zone and the "free" zone of Vichy, which also included Lyon and a very important cell of the Resistance led by Jean Moulin (1899-1943).

Jean Moulin, who fled with de Gaulle to England, was parachuted back inProvence He made a long journey that eventually reached Lyon. Here he lived in several apartments in the Place Carnot area, near the Perrache train station.

Klaus Barbie (1913-1991), the head of the Gestapo of Lyon, who, like Pushet, received the title “The Butcher of Lyon,” waged a long hunt for Jean Moulin and eventually managed to capture him, after the head of the Resistance was betrayed by one of his comrades. Barbie tortured Jean Moulin with great cruelty, and the latter died of his wounds on the train en route to Germany.

You can read more details about the Resistance in Lyon atDr. Orna Lieberman's article about Virginia Hall, the American spy who sought the help of occupied France, a key figure in the French Resistance. From 1941 to 1943, Virginia Hall's apartment in Lyon became a center of first-rate activity. In 1942, the Gestapo headquarters ordered the capture of "the most dangerous spy of the Allies."

Klaus Barbie was furious and was ready to do anything to have her eliminated. Virginia insisted on staying in her position even after “wanted” posters with her face on them were hung on the streets, and a bounty was put on her head. In the end, she was forced, reluctantly, to obey her handlers and leave Lyon.

After the war, Barbie managed to escape from France (with the help of none other than the CIA) and later became an intelligence officer in the Bolivian army. However, after a democratic party came to power in Bolivia, Klaus Barbie was extradited to France and sentenced to life imprisonment in Lyon in 1987. He died in prison in 1991.

The capital of French gastronomy

It is impossible to talk about the history of Lyon without mentioning the area in which the city is known far and wide, namely gastronomy!

The reason Lyon is known all over the world for its cuisine is the countryside that surrounds it and provides it with fine agricultural produce of fruits, vegetables, meats (for example... Chickens from Bres) and cheeses. The fact that every chef in Lyon could obtain fresh produce on a daily basis made Lyon the culinary capital in the days before the invention of the refrigerator.

At the end of the 19th century, the first “bouchon” restaurants began to open. These were small restaurants serving popular and traditional food (especially meats, sausages and offal, which became an integral part of Lyonnais cuisine). These restaurants were founded by women who wanted to help their families earn a little money while the owners worked in the silk industry and other industries.

An example of such a perfume is “Le Mar Brazier” (La Mère Brazier Restaurant), which still exists today. This same Mrs. Brazier lived in the countryside of Lyon and was forced to move to the city itself in order to make a living. She began working in one of the city's boutiques, and since she was very talented, she opened her own boutique in 1921. This boutique was very successful and received 3 Michelin starsHowever, Brazier did not rest on her laurels and founded another Bouchon, which also received three Michelin stars!

During his lifetime, Bocuse not only founded Michelin-starred restaurants, but also a famous cooking school and a food market named after him, where you will find the best of Lyonnais cuisine and a large fresco of the chef. It is no wonder that the whole city respected him, including the inspectors who never dared to give him a report, even though he used to park his car on the sidewalk outside his market.

You've finished reading about the history of Lyon. What's next?

Now that you've finished reading about the history of Lyon, you're welcome to start planning your trip.

• Looking for a good hotel? You are welcome to enter the article Recommended hotels in Lyon that I have collected for you with tweezers.
• Want to know what's best to do in Lyon? Go to the article What to do in Lyon? Attractions, itineraries, guided tours and more.
• Looking for a good restaurant? Go to the article Restaurants in Lyon: Where is the best place to eat in the gastronomic capital of France?
• If all this is not enough and you are looking for more information, you are welcome to visit the page Lyon and the surrounding area – information for travelers.