Lyon Cathedral - Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste - Place Saint-Jean, Vieux Lyon - sign - opening times

A guided walking tour of Vieux Lyon. The tour would take around an hour.

The Vieux Lyon (English: Old Lyon) is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon.

This zone is served by the metro line D

In 1954, Vieux-Lyon, the city's oldest district, became the first site in France to be protected under the Malraux law to protect France's cultural sites. Covering an area of 424 hectares at the foot of the Fourvière hill, it is one of Europe’s most extensive Renaissance neighborhoods. There are three distinct sections: Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges.

The Saint Jean quarter: in the Middle Ages, this was the focus of political and religious power. The Cathedral of St Jean, seat of the Primate of Gaul, a title still conferred upon the archbishop of Lyon, is a good example of Gothic architecture. The Manecanterie adjoining the cathedral is one of Lyon's few extant Romanesque buildings. Formerly a choir school, it now houses the museum of the cathedral’s treasures. Saint Jean is also home to the Museum of Miniatures and Film Sets, located in a building that was the Golden Cross Inn in the 15th century.

The Saint-Paul section: in the 15th and 16th centuries predominately Italian banker-merchants moved into sumptuous urban residences here called hôtels particuliers. The Hôtel Bullioud and the Hôtel de Gadagne are two magnificent examples and the latter now houses the Lyon Historical Museum and the International Puppet Museum. The Loge du Change stands as testimony to the period when trade fairs made the city wealthy. The Saint Paul church with its Romanesque lantern tower and its spectacular spire mark the section’s northern extremity.

The Saint Georges section: silk weavers settled here beginning in the 16th century before moving to the Croix Rousse hill in the 19th century. In 1844, the architect Pierre Bossan rebuilt the St George's Church on the banks of the Saônein a neo-Gothic style. In the Middle Ages, when there were only a few parallel streets between the hill and the Saône, the first traboules were built. Derived from the Latin trans-ambulare, meaning to pass through, traboules are corridors through buildings and their courtyards, connecting one street directly with another. Visitors can discover an architectural heritage of galleries and spiral staircases in these secret passageways, as unexpected as they are unique.

The walking tour ended in Place Saint-Jean near Lyon Cathedral.

The Place Saint-Jean is an old pedestrian square in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon (a.k.a. the "vieux Lyon", which means the oldest borough of Lyon). It is located in front of the Roman Catholic cathedral of Saint-Jean.

The square belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The Place Saint-Jean is located near the metro station: Vieux-Lyon – Cathédrale Saint-Jean. It is served by line D.

Place Saint-Jean (Lyon)

It is the oldest place in Lyon.

On January 10, 1794 , the square was renamed Place du Temple de la Raison (or Place de la Reason).

In 1844 a fountain designed by the Lyon architect René Dardel is built in the center of the square. It reproduces a small ancient temple in a neo-renaissance style housing a sculpture of Saint John the Baptist baptizing Christ , realized by Jean-Marie Bonnassieux .

In the 1850s , the street connecting the square to Tramassac Street was enlarged (in yellow on the map). Later, this street had to be further enlarged and aligned in order to completely open the square whose eastern facades were to be aligned. The Rue des Antonins was also to be enlarged. This part of the project (orange part on the plan) has never been realized. In 1852 a wholesale market was inaugurated on this square. A project carried out in the 1930s even began to transplant this function of wholesale trade to the whole of the district of Vieux Lyon by making a tabula rasa of the preexisting buildings; This project is adjourned and then definitively buried by the Second World War.

Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste.

Lyon Cathedral

Lyon Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon) is a Roman Catholic church located on Place Saint-Jean in Lyon, France. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and is the seat of the Archbishop of Lyon.

The cathedral was founded by Saint Pothinus and Saint Irenaeus, the first two bishops of Lyon. The cathedral is also known as a "Primatiale" because in 1079 the Pope granted to the archbishop of Lyon the title of Primate of All the Gauls with the legal supremacy over the principal archbishops of the kingdom. It is located in the heart of the old town (Vieux Lyon), less than five minutes away from the banks of the Saône river, with a large plaza in front of it and a metro stop nearby providing easy access to and from the city centre.

Begun in the twelfth century on the ruins of a 6th-century church, it was completed in 1476. The building is 80 meters long (internally), 20 meters wide at the choir, and 32.5 meters high in the nave. The cathedral organ was built by Daublaine and Callinet and was installed in 1841 at the end of the apse and had 15 stops. It was rebuilt in 1875 by Merklin-Schütze and given 30 stops, three keyboards of 54 notes and pedals for 27.

Noteworthy are the two crosses to right and left of the altar, preserved since the council of 1274 as a symbol of the union of the churches, and the Bourbon chapel, built by the Cardinal de Bourbon and his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in-law of Louis XI, a masterpiece of 15th century sculpture.

The cathedral also has the Lyon Astronomical Clock from the 14th century.

Until the construction of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, it was the pre-eminent church in Lyon.

sign - opening times - we didn't go into this cathedral.

Primatiale Saint Jean-Baptiste Cathédrale de Lyon

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Taken in: France / Rhône-Alpes / Lyon (show map)

Taken on: June 3, 2017

Tags:

Lyon

France

Bourgogne

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Metropolis of Lyon

Rhone-Alpes

UNESCO Classified Place

UNESCO

World Heritage Site

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Vieux Lyon

Old Lyon

largest Renaissance district of Lyon

Malraux law

Place Saint-Jean

Place St Jean

Place du Temple de la Raison

Place de la Reason

Lyon Cathedral

Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon

Roman Catholic church

Saint John the Baptist

Archbishop of Lyon

Saint Pothinus and Saint Irenaeus

Primatiale

Bourbon chapel

Cardinal de Bourbon

Pierre de Bourbon

Lyon Astronomical Clock

sign

opening times

Primatiale Saint Jean-Baptiste Cathédrale de Lyon « less

Sets appears in: • Vieux Lyon • Lyon

Groups appears in: • Cathedrals • Labels, Signs & Notices more » • Cathedrals of France / Cathédrales de France • Cathédrales, églises, abbayes « less

Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ72, f/5.6, 1/320 sec, 74.4mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Panasonic DMC-FZ72
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	74.4mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	+0.33 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Gain Control:	Low gain up
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Ver.1.0
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