The Rue Émile-Zola is a street located in the

2nd arrondissement of Lyon The 2nd arrondissement of Lyon is one of the nine arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The first five Arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of Lyon were created by the Decree of March 24, 1852, which included th ...

, near Place Bellecour. This is one of the busiest

shopping street A shopping street or shopping district is a designated road or quarter of a city/town that is composed of individual retail establishments (such as stores, boutiques, restaurants, and shopping complexes). Such areas will typically be pedest ...

s of Lyon, which was described as a "

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

" street because there are many upscale shops. It begins with the

Place des Jacobins The Place des Jacobins is a square located in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. It was created in 1556 and a fountain was added in 1856. The square belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO. According to Jean Pelletier, this sq ...

and ends at the

Place Bellecour Place Bellecour is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m (62,000 m² or 15 acres), it is one of the largest open squares (without any patches of greenery or trees) in ...

after crossing the

rue des Archers The Rue des Archers is a street located in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, in the Cordeliers quarter. It is near the Place Bellecour. The traffic goes from the rue Édouard-Herriot to the place des Célestins, and is regulated on the part leading ...

, and belongs to the zone classified as

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

by UNESCO. It was named as tribute to the writer of the same name.

History

It was created in 1562 by

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

under the name of Rue Saint-Dominique, then was called Rue Chalier in 1793. It received its current name after the deliberation of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

on 14 October 1902 and was then mostly composed of houses of manufacturers of silk, gold or silver textiles. One character in

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's three-act comedy ''

The Imaginary Invalid ''The Imaginary Invalid'', ''The Hypochondriac'', or ''The Would-Be Invalid'' ( French title ''Le Malade imaginaire'', ) is a three- act ''comédie-ballet'' by the French playwright Molière with dance sequences and musical interludes (H.495, H. ...

'', the

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Ameri ...

Fleurant, was one of the inhabitants of the street. The street had two prestigious hotels welcoming travelers in Lyon in the nineteenth century: the Hôtel du Commerce and the Hôtel des Courriers. The restaurant "Lucotte", owned by Couderc in 1827, had its ceiling decorated with an oil painting by Sarrabat entitled ''Sunrise'', made circa 1710. In 1835, the Gas Company of Perrache made its first attempts of gas lighting. In 1864, the sign of the cutler Lacouture was a red clothed robot. The 19th-century Lyon historian and writer Aimé Vingtrinier lived at No. 3, what is recalled by a plate affixed to the door. Among famous inhabitants of the street, there were

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

, many judges, treasurers, sculptors and architects in the 18th and 19th century. Lyon poet Alexis Rousset was born this street. In the 18th century, the No. 3 was the Lord of the Croix-Rousse's house, Simon-Claude Boulard of Gatelier. The offices of the Canal Company of Givors were at No. 14 in 1843.

Architecture and description

First large, the street became narrow in its second part. It starts with a 20th-century corner tower on the Place des Jacobins. There are balconies of that time and beautiful doorways, in wood or in stone, and some of them can be crossed. Some doors lead to courtyards, as at No. 15. The buildings mostly date from the 18th and 19th-century and have highly decorated entrances. The street is mainly composed of luxurious shops, including stores of clothes, of shoes, jewelries...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rue Emile Zola 2nd arrondissement of Lyon Zola, Emile Shopping districts and streets in France World Heritage Sites in France