Old Town Lyon WWII Escape Self-Guided Exploration Tour

Itinerary

Hôtel de Ville de Lyon

The Hôtel de Ville de Lyon is the city hall of the City of Lyon and one of the largest historic buildings in the city, located between the Place des Terreaux and the Place de la Comédie, in front of the Opera Nouvel. Since 12 July 1886, the building has been classified as a Monument historique. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

La Fontaine Bartholdi

The Fontaine Bartholdi is a fountain sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and realised in 1889 by Gaget & Gautier. It was erected at the Place des Terreaux, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, in September 1892. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

Maison Henri IV

This house marks the start of the Vieux Lyon, the ‘Old town’, the largest Renaissance area of Lyon. Named ‘Rue Juiverie’ because of the Jewish community that used to live here, it literally translates to ‘Jewish Street’. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

Traboule “Maison du Crible – Tour Rose”

It is better known under the name of "Pink Tower", because of its tower which shelters a staircase since its construction during the Renaissance by an owner who built one of the tallest buildings of the district. However, at that point, it would not be rosy, and will not become so until much later. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

La Longue Traboule

This centuries-old, tucked-away route through buildings is the longest of its kind in the city. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

Cathedrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de 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) and it backs up to the Saône river, with a large plaza in front of it and a metro stop nearby providing easy access to and from the city center. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

Passerelle Saint-georges

Still called the Saint-Georges footbridge, this structure connecting the districts of Ainay and Saint-Georges was opened to the public on October 21, 1853. It consists of an 87 m span suspended by guy wires fixed in masts anchored in the two piers placed 10 m from the banks. Destroyed in 1944, the footbridge is rebuilt identically. On March 17, 2003, it was renamed the Paul Couturier footbridge in honor of this priest, born in La Guillotière on July 29, 1881 and died on March 29, 1953, who contributed to interfaith exchanges. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.

Statue of the Republic

On a 15 meter/50 feet high base stands a 7½ meter/25 feet tall allegorical woman (Marianne) representing the Republic. She wears a Phrygian cap and caresses a lion's head with her right hand and holds an olive branch (symbol of peace) with her left hand. At the top of the base is a frieze with reliefs of the symbols of the republic: the Gallic rooster trampling a snake, a double cornucopia with the Phrygian cap, and a double cornucopia with the symbol of the city of Lyon (?). Below this frieze are the dates 1848 - 1870. Here you will have to look around to find the answer to our challenge to advance to the new location and learn the story of this place.