Fourvière () is a city district of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising from the river

Saône The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...

. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of

Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...

in 43 BC. The district contains many religious buildings including convents, monasteries and chapels. It is known in Lyon as "the hill that prays". Fourvière is part of a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

designated for the city of Lyon in 1998 for its testimony to Lyon's long history as an important European settlement and its extraordinary architecture.http://www.lyon.fr/vdl/sections/en/tourisme/fil_quartier/fourviere Official site of Lyon

Description

Fourviere supports the world's two oldest and active

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

railway lines, and is known for the Catholic Basilica of Fourvière. The inauguration of the golden statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

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. On the south side of Fourvière are the vast ruins of

Roman Baths In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

, partially intact ruins of a Roman Theatre (15 BC) and a 2nd Century Roman Odéon rediscovered in the 20th century and now home to a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

as well as a series of concerts and operas throughout the summer.

La Tour Métallique

Fourvière hill is home to the La Tour Métallique, one of Lyon's most easily recognizable landmarks, which was privately built by the land-owners to rival the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. 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.

Funicular railway

Fourviere supports the world's two oldest and active

railway lines. The Funiculars of Lyon ('Funiculaires de Lyon') is a network of

railways. Of the five lines once in existence, only the two routes on the Fourvière hill remain in operation, with the rest of the network now either closed, converted to road vehicle use, or integrated within the Lyon underground system.

Modern infrastructure

A double motorway tunnel passes under Fourvière, connecting the A6 autoroute (coming from

) and the

A7 autoroute The A7 Autoroutes of France, Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Soleil (English: the Motorway of the Sun) is a French motorway. It continues the A6 autoroute (France), A6 and links Lyon to Marseille. The autoroute du Soleil is long and fo ...

(coming from

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

), both forming the "Autoroute du Soleil". Prior to the construction of the bypass of Lyon by the east, and with Lyon being virtually the only low passage between the Alps and the Massif Central (extinct) volcano range, the tunnel was famous for its traffic jams caused by a combination of local traffic, that of neighboring countries, as well as traffic between northern and southern France.

Threats to survival

The hill is very fragile in places due to springs, underground streams, ancient tunnels and aqueducts, which have caused several subsidences in the past.

Gallery

Image:Lyon Basilique de Fourvière Front view.jpg,

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière () is a minor basilica in Lyon, France. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1896 in a dominant position overlooking the city. The site it occupies was once the Roman forum of Trajan, the ''foru ...

and the Saint-Thomas chapel on the right. Image:Le chevet de la Basilique de Fourvière, Lyon.JPG, The chevet of the Basilica. Image:Roman theatre in Lyon.jpg, Ancient Theatre of Fourvière Image:Tour metallique de fourviere.jpg, The metallic tower of Fourvière Image:Eglisesaintjustlyon.JPG, The Saint-Just church

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourviere 5th arrondissement of Lyon Quarters of Lyon World Heritage Sites in France