Lyon, 3 districts listed as UNESCO World Heritage
World Heritage site:
2000 years of history,
427 hectares,
162 monuments,
600 courtyards and traboules,
60 000 inhabitants.
Vieux-Lyon
A preserved sector, the Vieux-Lyon district is one of the largest Renaissance quarters in Europe, together with Venice. The famous "traboules" (from the Latin transambulare) are passageways that allow people to cross directly from one street to another through inner courtyards. They were created to facilitate pedestrian traffic. As they move through these traboules, visitors discover a unique and unexpected architectural heritage of galleries and spiral staircases.
The city centre
Between the Saône and Rhône rivers, called the Presqu’île(Peninsula), the city centre has always been the heart of busy activity around the neighbourhood’s businesses, shops, bookstores and theatres.
Charming squares and prestigious buildings are present all around the district.
Croix-Rousse
This is the Silk district. Silk workers, known as "Canuts", used to occupy buildings that were designed to house imposing handlooms and the new machines invented by Jacquard.
A lively, atypical district that has carried on the silk-working tradition in a few weaving workshops and has opened itself up to design and new trends.
