Fourvière
Encyclopedia
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
located on a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising abruptly from the river Saône
Saône
The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
and then gently sloping down to the north-west. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum (43 BC). While it supports two funicular
Funicular
A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
lines, the oldest in the world still active, it is known primarily for the Catholic Basilica of Fourvière. The inauguration of the golden statue of Mary on the north-west tower is the origin of the famous 8 December Festival of Lights, when the citizens of Lyon display candles (lumignons) at their windows. This festival now attracts hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of Lyon every year. Fourvière contains many other religious buildings including convents, monasteries and chapels. It is known in Lyon as "the hill that prays". It is now part of a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage site designated for the city of Lyon in 1998.
Also on the Fourvière hill is La Tour Métallique which was privately built by the owners of the land to rival the Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a puddle iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Built in 1889, it has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. It forms the highest point in Lyon and is in fact higher than the Eiffel Tower at its summit, due to it being on a hill. It is now a television relay tower.
On the south side of Fourvière are the (partially intact) ruins of a Roman Theatre (15 BC) and an odéon
Odeon of Lyon
The Odeon of Lyon is a small ancient Roman theatre near the summit of the Fourvière hill in Lyon, France. It forms a pair with the theatre, one of only two such pairs in Gaul .-History:...
(2nd century), only rediscovered in the 20th century, and now home to a museum
Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon
The Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon is a museum on the Gallo-Roman civilisation in Lyon , previously located in the heart of the Roman city and now sited near the city's Roman theatre on the Fourvière hill, half-buried into the hillside on the edge of the archaeological site. The new building was...
and a series of concerts and operas throughout the summer, and the ruins of vast Roman Baths.
A double motorway tunnel passes under Fourvière, connecting the A6 autoroute
A6 autoroute (France)
The A6, also known as the Autoroute du Soleil, Sun's Motorway, , is an Autoroute in France, linking Paris to Lyon. The motorway starts at Paris's Porte d'Orléans and Porte d'Italie with two branches, numbered A6a and A6b respectively, that join south of Paris...
(coming from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) and the A7 autoroute (coming from Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
), both forming the "Autoroute du Soleil". Prior to the construction of the bypass of Lyon by the east, the tunnel was famous for its traffic jams, since traffic between northern and southern France, as well as from neighboring countries and local traffic all wanted to cross, Lyon being virtually the only low passage between the Alps and the Massif Central (extinct) volcano range.
The hill is very fragile in places due to springs, underground streams and ancient tunnels and aqueducts, which have caused several subsidences in the past.