Place des Terreaux
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...
on the Presqu'île
Presqu'ile (Lyon)
The Presqu’île, literally the "peninsula", extending from the foot of the Croix Rousse hill to the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône rivers, is in the city centre of Lyon, France. It has a preponderance of cafés, restaurants, luxury shops, department stores, banks, government buildings, and...
between the Rhône
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
and the 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....
, at the foot of the hill of La Croix-Rousse
La Croix-Rousse
This zone is served by the metro line La Croix-Rousse is a hill in the town of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a quarter located on this hill . It is 254m at its peak...
in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon
1st arrondissement of Lyon
The 1st arrondissement of Lyon, France is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. It is located below the hill of Croix-Rousse and on the north part of the Presqu'île formed by the Saône and the Rhône, the two rivers in Lyon...
. The square belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
by UNESCO.
Location
The square is bordered :- On the east by the Lyon City Hall
- On the south by the Palais Saint-Pierre and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de LyonMusée des beaux-arts de LyonThe Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. It is housed near place des Terreaux in a former Benedictine convent of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was restored between 1988 and 1998, and despite these important restoration works it remained open...
- On the west by a building through a gallery
- On the north by civilian buildings marking the beginning of the slopes of the La Croix-RousseLa Croix-RousseThis zone is served by the metro line La Croix-Rousse is a hill in the town of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a quarter located on this hill . It is 254m at its peak...
History
The front wall of the square
In 1206, associations of merchants of Lyon ran to Archbishop Renaud II de Forez who failed to comply with the charter signed in 1195 by violating the agreements made in respect of tax on goods. To protect the village of Saint-Nizier from ecclesiastical power, the bourgeois of Lyon then decided to raise a wall at the foot of the hill Saint-Sébastien (slope of the Croix-Rousse) and a tower on the SaôneSaône
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....
to control the bridge of Change, which was the sole passage between Saint-Nizier and Saint-Jean (a parish on the west side of the Saône, in Vieux Lyon
Vieux Lyon
The Vieux Lyon is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon in the 5th arrondissement.This zone is served by the metro line 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...
). de Forez intervened by force of arms in 1208 and peace came back through the intervention of Pope Innocent III.
However, Renaud de Forez and his successors continued the works undertaken by the bourgeois of Lyon, in order to protect the city from a potential attack by the Dombes
Dombes
The Dombes is an area in South-Eastern France, once an independent municipality, formerly part of the province of Burgundy, and now a district comprised in the département of Ain, and bounded W. by the Saône River, by the Rhône, E. by the Ain and N...
. A two-metre thick and ten-metre high new wall was built between the Saône and Rhône. Approximately 500 metres long, this enclosure was pierced by two gates defended by drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
s (la Porte de la Pêcherie o the Saône et la porte de la Lanterne) and protected by ten towers. A crenelated walk and five stone booths allowed soldiers to watch at the top. The main wall was separated by a 22-metre ditch from another two-metre wall located to the north. In the fourteenth century, a third structure built into the slope was added to this device, then in the beginning of the 15th century, a new structure built on the Saint Sébastien hilltop and consisting of a mound of earth protected by wood towers was also added. In case of siege, the ditch, which took the name of Terralia nova (Fossés of Terreaux or Fossés de la Lanterne), could be filled with water. This one entered when needed in a succession of basins, called channel Neyron, dug laterally to the Rhone.
Under normal circumstances, the crossbowmen, then culverinmen used ditches as a training location, first on the Saône side, then from 1533 on the Rhône side.
The garden and the square
In the 16th century, the walls crumbled. In 1538, the demolition of the enclosure was initiated. The ditch located on the Saône side was filled later to build the Boucherie de la Lanterne. In 1555, the nuns of the convent Saint-Pierre were allowed to use the stones of the wall to repair the monastery. In 1578, the lands of the current Place des Terreaux were filled and in 1617, the former ditch eventually disappeared with the development of the gardens of city hall on which the Opera stand today.Between 1646 and 1651, Simon Maupin
Simon Maupin
Simon Maupin was a French architect.-Biography:In 1625, he engraved his Plan de Lyon.He became famous when he drew up the plans of the City hall of Lyon, built between 1646 and 1651...
built on the eastern side of the square the Hôtel de ville de Lyon, rebuilt by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, after the fire of 1674. In the 17th century, the nuns of Saint-Pierre rebuilt their convent, which became in 1803 the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon
The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. It is housed near place des Terreaux in a former Benedictine convent of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was restored between 1988 and 1998, and despite these important restoration works it remained open...
.
On this square was beheaded the Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars
Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis de Cinq-Mars was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France who led the last and most nearly successful of the many conspiracies against the king's powerful first minister, the Cardinal Richelieu....
, who was a conspirator against Richelieu. During the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
was installed and running at full speed during the tenure of Marie Joseph Chalier. After the siege of Lyon
Siege of Lyon
The Siege and capture of Lyon occurred on 9 August to 9 October 1793 when French Republican forces laid siege and captured the city of Lyon, which had revolted against the French government.- References :...
, 79 people were also beheaded.
In the second half of the 19th century, accesses to the site were expanded to incorporate them to the restructuring plan of the peninsula led by the Claude-Marius Vaïsse
Claude-Marius Vaïsse
Claude-Marius Vaïsse was a French politician, former prefect of Lyon, called the "Hausmann lyonnais".- Political career :...
. In 1855, the passing of Terreaux was open between the square and the Lanterne street. The prefect also planned to drill a new street in the north axis of the Palais Saint-Pierre, but this project was never realized.
At the center of the square, the municipal officials inaugurated on 22 September 1891 an allegorical fountain of Saône, made by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi. The group scuplted called 'Char triomphant de la Garonne' represents the Garonne
Garonne
The Garonne is a river in southwest France and northern Spain, with a length of .-Source:The Garonne's headwaters are to be found in the Aran Valley in the Pyrenees, though three different locations have been proposed as the true source: the Uelh deth Garona at Plan de Beret , the Ratera-Saboredo...
and its four tributaries jumping into the ocean, all of which are symbolized by a woman leading a Quadriga
Quadriga
A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast . It was raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests. It is represented in profile as the chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing...
. After the 1889 Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1889)
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a World's Fair held in Paris, France from 6 May to 31 October 1889.It was held during the year of the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, an event traditionally considered as the symbol for the beginning of the French Revolution...
, the monument became too expensive for the city of Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
and was bought in 1890 by the Mayor of Lyon, Antoine Gailleton.
The square was redeveloped in 1994 by architect and urban planner Christian Drevet and artist Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren
Daniel Buren is a French conceptual artist.- Work :Sometimes classified as an abstract minimalist Buren is known best for using regular, contrasting maxi stripes to integrate the visual surface and architectural space, notably historical, landmark architecture.Among his chief concerns is the...
, including an orthogonal rotation of 69 jets of water lined with 14 pillars. To build the underground parking of the square, the fountain was originally located in front of city hall, then moved to its current location in the axis of the palace Saint-Pierre.
On 29 September 1995, the square was classified as a monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...
.