69 Sights in Lyon, France (with Map and Images)
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Explore interesting sights in Lyon, France. Click on a marker on the map to view details about it. Underneath is an overview of the sights with images. A total of 69 sights are available in Lyon, France.
Sightseeing Tours in Lyon1. Lugdunum Musée et Théâtres Romains
Lugdunum, formerly known as the Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon-Fourvière or Museum of Roman Civilisation, is a museum of Gallo-Roman civilisation in Lyon. Previously presented at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon and the Antiquarium, the municipal Gallo-Roman collection was transferred to a new building designed by Bernard Zehrfuss and opened in 1975, near the city's Roman theatre and odeon, on a hill known as Fourvière, located in the heart of the Roman city. Internally, it is formed of a concrete spiral ramp descending and branching out into the display rooms. It is managed and operated by the Metropolis of Lyon jointly with the archaeological museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal. As well as displaying its own permanent collections of Roman, Celtic and pre-Roman material, a plan-relief of the ancient town and scale models of its major monuments such as the theatre and the Odeon, it also regularly hosts temporary exhibitions. On November 8, 2017, the museum was renamed Lugdunum.
2. Villa Gillet
Villa Gillet is located in Lyon, in the Parc de la Cerisaie. It is a European and international house of contemporary writing. It gives a voice to writers, thinkers and artists. It is a cultural institution that is interested in all forms of culture: literature, humanities, politics and social sciences, history, contemporary arts, etc. It brings together artists, writers, novelists and researchers from all over the world to nourish public reflection on the issues of our time through conferences, debates, round tables, and readings. The City of Lyon, the Métropole de Lyon, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs, the National Book Centre and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region contribute in part to its operation. From 1989 until 2019 it was directed by Guy Walter, who was also director of Les Subsistances.
3. 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. Located near the Place des Terreaux, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was restored between 1988, and 1998, remaining open to visitors throughout this time despite the ongoing restoration works. Its collections range from ancient Egyptian antiquities to the Modern art period, making the museum one of the most important in Europe. It also hosts important exhibitions of art, for example the exhibitions of works by Georges Braque and Henri Laurens in the second half of 2005, and another on the work of Théodore Géricault from April to July 2006. It is one of the largest art museums in France.
4. Eugène Pons
Eugène Pons, born May 15, 1886 in Saint-Etienne and died in deportation on February 24, 1945 at the Neuengamme concentration camp, is a Catholic figure in Lyon, a printer and a French resistant specializing in the printing of clandestine newspapers. From 1940 to 1944, he took care of his printing house on rue de la Vieille-Monnaie for the impression of newspapers of the Resistance, in particular Christian testimony, combat, the Marseillaise and Franc-Tireur. He was also responsible for 25,000 copies of the false nouvelliste on December 31, 1943. Defeating one of the employees of his printing press, he was arrested in May 1944, then deported to Neuengamme where he died of exhaustion in 1945.
5. Manécanterie
The Manécanterie is an ancient monument situated in Lyon in Saint Jean district, in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon. It is placed side by side to the south southwest of the cathedral Saint Jean and is a part of the former convent of the cathedral. This small Romanesque building served first as dining hall to the canons of Saint Jean, before becoming a parish choir school, namely a school for the singing of the clergy. In 1998, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other notable buildings in historic Lyon as a testimony to Lyon's long history and unique architecture.
6. Historic Site of Lyon
Vieux Lyon is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon. In 1964, 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. Covering an area of 424 hectares between the Fourvière hill and the river Saône, it is one of Europe's most extensive Renaissance neighborhoods. There are three distinct sections: Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges. In 1998, Vieux Lyon was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other districts in Lyon because of its historical importance and architecture.
7. Parc de la Tête d'Or
Parc de la Tête-d'Or is a public urban park located in Lyon, one of the largest in France. Designed by the brothers Denis and Eugène Bühler, the park was opened in 1857 but the work was not completed. It is exactly contemporary with New York's Central Park, created the same year. The park was enriched with many buildings such as the large greenhouses in 1865, the velodrome, the guards' chalet and the park chalet in 1894, the fence in 1896, the collection greenhouses in 1899, the war memorial on Swan Island between 1914 and 1930 and the new rose garden between 1961 and 1964.
8. Jardin du Palais Saint-Pierre
The Jardin du Palais Saint-Pierre is a municipal garden in Lyon, France, located within the grounds of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. It is set in a rectangle delimited by the arcades of the former cloister of the Benedictine abbey. Regular in style, it consists of half-moon or rectangular lawns, punctuated by vegetation and various sculptures. It is located in the city centre on the peninsula. Like the Museum of Fine Arts, the garden is open every day, except Tuesdays and public holidays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
9. Hôtel de ville
The Hôtel de Ville is the city hall of Lyon, France, and one of the largest historic buildings in the city. It is located between the Place des Terreaux and the Place de la Comédie, in front of the Opera Nouvel. Built in the late 17th century, the building has been classified as a Monument historique since 12 July 1886. As part of the Presqu'île district, the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List alongside other districts in the centre of Lyon, bearing testimony to Lyon's long history as an important European city.
10. Parc Henry-Chabert
Parc Henry-Chabert, previously Parc de Gerland and also called Parc du Confluent, is a large greenspace in Lyon situated on a former industrial site in the south of the city near the confluence of the Rhône and the Saone. Construction began in 1996, and the park was developed over an area of 80 hectares. The initial two phases of construction concluded in 2000 and 2006, and were carried out by landscape architect Michel Corajoud. The project was managed by Grand Lyon. The park was renamed to Parc Henry-Chabert on 19 December 2020.
11. Musée Africain
The African Museum of Lyon is the oldest museum in France dedicated to Africa, and one of the oldest museums in Lyon. The collections specialise in West African objects. From 2012 to 2017, the museum was managed by a secular association, the Association du Musée Africain de Lyon. It closed on November 27, 2017. The space left free has been dedicated to the Carrefour des Cultures Africaines, which allows access to the library to be maintained.
12. Aux enfants du Rhône défenseurs de la Patrie
Aux enfants du Rhône, defenders de la Patrie, commonly known as the Monument des enfants du Rhône, is a war memorial dedicated to the soldiers from Lyon who died during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It is located Place du Général-Leclerc at the entrance of the Parc de la Tête d'Or named "Porte des Enfants du Rhône" in Lyon, France. The sculpture was made by the sculptor Étienne Pagny and was inaugurated on October 30, 1887.
13. Château de La Motte
Château de La Motte is a French castle that is also known as The castle of La Motte or just La Mothe. It is located in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon, on the left bank of the Rhône. It stands near the junction of two ancient roads of eastern and southern Lyon, on the border between the Dauphiné and Lyonnais. It occupies a small hill created in Gallo-Roman times for flood protection and because of good visibility.
14. Basilique Saint-Martin d'Ainay
The Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay is a Romanesque church in Ainay in the Presqu'île district in the historic centre of Lyon, France. A quintessential example of Romanesque architecture, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other notable buildings in the centre of Lyon as a testimony to Lyon's long history as an important European town and unique blend of architectural styles.
15. Chapelle de l'Hôtel-Dieu
The Notre-Dame-de-Pitié Chapel, more commonly known as the Hôtel-Dieu Chapel, is a religious building located in the Bellecour district, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon which belongs to the Hospices civils de Lyon. It is sometimes called the church of the Hôtel-Dieu because of its attachment to the Basilica of Saint Bonaventure and previously to the parish of Saint-Nizier.
16. Parc Jacob Kaplan
The Parc Jacob-Kaplan or Parc de la Buire is a park in Lyon with a surface area of 5,000 m2, located in the Buire district of the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon. It bears the name of Jacob Kaplan, resistance fighter and then chief rabbi of France from 1955 to 1980. The park is marked in a significant way by hydraulic features and an artificial moat for rainwater infiltration.
17. Odéon
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 Ancient Theatre of Fourvière, one of only two such pairs in Gaul. Along with other buildings in Lyon, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998, protecting Lyon's long history as a powerful city and its unique architecture.
18. Parc Sergent Blandan
Parc Sergent Blandan, also shortened to Parc Blandan, is an urban park in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon in Lyon, France, adjacent to Cimetière de la Guillotière Ancien. With an area of 17 hectares, the park opened to the public on 13 September 2013 at the location of Caserne sergent Blandan, a military barracks previously known as "Fort Lamothe".
19. Jardin des Chartreux
The Jardin des Chartreux is a park of about one hectare in Lyon. Located in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon on the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse, it is crossed by the Passage Gonin, a pedestrian path, which connects the Cours Général-Giraud, which the garden runs along between the rue de la Muette and the Place Rouville, to the quai Saint-Vincent.
20. Halle Tony Garnier
The Halle Tony Garnier is an arena and concert hall in Lyon, France. It was designed by Tony Garnier in 1905. Originally a slaughterhouse, the building was renovated in 1987 and opened as a concert hall in 1988. With a standing capacity of nearly 17,000, it is the third biggest venue in France after the Accor Arena and Paris La Défense Arena.
21. Colline de Fourvière
Fourvière is a district of Lyon, France, a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising from the river Saône. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum in 43 BC. The district contains many religious buildings including convents, monasteries and chapels. It is known in Lyon as "the hill that prays".
22. Opéra de Lyon
The Opéra Nouvel in Lyon, France, is the home of the Opéra National de Lyon. The original opera house was re-designed by the distinguished French architect, Jean Nouvel between 1985 and 1993 in association with the agency of scenography dUCKS scéno and the acoustician Peutz. Serge Dorny was appointed general director in 2003.
23. Palais archiépiscopal
The Archiepiscopal Palace of Lyon, or Palais Saint-Jean, is a building of medieval origin located in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon. Home to the bishops and archbishops of Lyon for many centuries, it has undergone many developments. Confiscated during the Revolution, it was used from 1974 to store Lyon's municipal archives.
24. Église Saint-Just
The church of Saint-Just or Saint-Just of the Maccabees church, is a church in Lyon, France. It is located at 41 rue des Farges, in Lyon and until 2014, the church hosted the "French-speaking Orthodox parish of the Holy Encounter", a parish of the Orthodox Byzantine rite dependent on the patriarchate of Constantinople.
25. Galeries souterraines de la balme Saint-Clair
Les bones de poisson, also underground galleries of the Balme Saint-Clair or sometimes the Réseaux des Fantasques, is the name given to a network of ancient galleries located under the Croix-Rousse plateau in Lyon. This archaeological site consists of galleries arranged in steps and all inclined towards the Rhône.
26. Cour des Voraces
The Cour des Voraces, also called Maison de la République, is a courtyard building in the Pentes quarter, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, famous for its enormous six-floor stairway. It is an impressive traboule, a covered passage with entrances on Place Colbert, Montée Saint-Sébastien and Rue Imbert-Colomès.
27. Le Gros Caillou
The Gros Caillou is one of the symbols of the Croix-Rousse district in Lyon, France. Erected as a stele, this massive grey-white rock, very hard weighing 24 tons, is a quartzite whose mineralogical composition shows that it was transported from the Alps to Lyon by glaciers: this is what is called an erratic block.
28. Hôtel de Sarron
The Hôtel de Sarron is a building listed as a historical monument by decree of 19 November 1991, located in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. It housed the offices of Mathieu Paquet's printing and bookshop, which became those of the Presse lyonnaise du Sud-Est, which prints the daily newspaper L'Express de Lyon.
29. Hangar du Premier-Film
The Hangar du Premier-Film is the last vestige of the Lumière factories, located in Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is located on Rue du Premier Film, which was then called Chemin Saint-Victor, in the Montplaisir district. It has been classified as a historical monument since 2 December 1994.
30. Chapelle Sainte-Croix de Lyon
The Sainte-Croix Chapel or Chapel of the Missionaries of Notre-Dame is a Byzantine-style building located in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon. Erected in memory of the victims of the siege of Lyon in 1793, it belongs to the Commission du Monument Religieux des Brotteaux, an association under the law of 1901.
31. Basilique Saint-Bonaventure
The Église Saint-Bonaventure is one of the churches of the quarter Presqu'île, located on the Place des Cordeliers, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. This is the only medieval building not demolished after the creation of the rue Impériale, under the Second Empire by the prefect Claude-Marius Vaïsse.
32. Démocrite méditant sur le siège de l'âme
Democritus Meditating on the Seat of the Soul is a statue by Léon-Alexandre Delhomme (1841–1895), exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1868. It shows the Greek philosopher Democritus, his eyes fixed on a skull he holds in his hands. It is now exhibited in the garden of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.
Wikipedia: Democritus Meditating on the Seat of the Soul (EN)
33. Jardin Rosa Mir
The Jardin Rosa Mir is a garden located in the center of La Croix-Rousse quarter in the 4th arrondissement of Lyon, and created by Jules Senis. It is housed in a courtyard of the building at No. 83 Grande Rue de la Croix-Rousse. It can be accessed through a path located at No. 87 in the same street.
34. Centauresse et Faune
The Centauress and the Faun or Centauress and Faun is a sculpture by Augustin Courtet installed in the garden of the Palais Saint-Pierre in 1849 before being transferred to the Parc de la Tête d'Or near the Porte des Enfants du Rhône. The statue was cast by the Parisian foundry Édouard Quesnel.
35. Église Sainte-Croix de Lyon
The Sainte-Croix Church in Lyon is a Catholic church built in the 19th century. It is the northernmost church of the Lyon episcopal group comprising the Cathedral of Saint-Jean and the former Church of Saint-Étienne, remains of its foundations can be seen in the adjoining archaeological park.
36. Maison des Canuts
La maison des Canuts is a museum located in Lyon, France. Emblematic of the Croix-Rousse district, it presents collections relating to the canuts, the silk workers of this district of Lyon, in particular functional looms, as well as elements related to the history of silk and its industry.
37. Basilique funéraire Saint-Laurent de Choulans
Saint-Laurent-de-Choulans is an archaeological site located in Lyon at the foot of the entrance to the Fourvière tunnel, and dates back to the Merovingian period. This site contains the remains of a church surrounded by a fenced Christian necropolis, with an area of 0.5 to 1 ha.
Wikipedia: Basilique funéraire Saint-Laurent de Choulans (FR)
38. Théâtre de la Croix Rousse
The Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse is a theatre located in the 4th arrondissement of Lyon, on the Place Joannès-Ambre and built from the end of the 1920s. The designer of the place is Michel Roux-Spitz. In 1980, the architect Georges Bacconnier led a restoration of the interiors.
39. Église Notre-Dame Saint-Louis
Notre-Dame Saint-Louis is a church dedicated to Catholic worship, located in the Guillotière district, in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon, of which it is the oldest parish sanctuary. It is located at the intersection of Rue de la Madeleine and Grande Rue de la Guillotière.
40. Prison Montluc
Fort Montluc, also known as Fort de Villeurbanne, is a fort located in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon. The fort was built in 1831 as part of the Ceintures de Lyon, which were a series of fortifications surrounding Lyon. It is currently used as a metropolitan police station.
41. Auditorium Maurice-Ravel
The Maurice Ravel Auditorium is a concert hall located in Part-Dieu, the 3rd district of Lyon. It was originally built for the National Orchestra of Lyon and is their residence hall. It is also one of the first buildings in France to be built with Prestressed concrete.
42. Statue de Monsieur Ampère
The Monument to Ampère is a statue erected on Place Ampère in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, France. Installed in 1888, it depicts the scientist André-Marie Ampère seated. Its sculptor is Charles Textor, its architect Joseph Dubuisson and the founder is Thiébaut.
43. Basilique 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 forum vetus, thus its name.
Wikipedia: Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière (EN), Website
44. Grand Temple
The Grand Temple de Lyon, also known as the Temple des Brotteaux, is a Protestant place of worship located on the left bank of the Rhône, 3 quai Victor-Augagneur, in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon. The parish is a member of the United Protestant Church of France.
45. Sculpture
Sculpture, sometimes nicknamed The Five Steel Menhirs, is a steel sculpture by Philolaos composed of five menhir-like elements. It has been installed since 1968 in the garden of the Les Érables building in La Duchère, on the Boulevard de La Duchère (OSM) side.
46. Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules
The Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls of Lugdunum (Lyon) was part of the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus celebrated by the 60 Gallic tribes when they gathered at Lugdunum. In 1961, it was classified as a monument historique.
47. Bourse du Travail
The Bourse du Travail is a 1,950-capacity theatre located in Lyon, France. Built in 1929, it was designated a monument historique in 1989. Some of the artists that performed at the venue include Asia, Mötley Crüe, Blue Öyster Cult, Iggy Pop and Metallica.
48. Monument à la gloire du service de santé militaire
The monument to the glory of the Grange Blanche military health service is a monument located in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon that commemorates the action of the medical soldiers from the Army Medical School during the conflicts of the twentieth century.
Wikipedia: Monument à la gloire du service de santé militaire de Grange Blanche (FR)
49. Musée d'histoire de la médecine et de la pharmacie de Lyon
The Museum of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy of Lyon is a museum of the history of medicine and pharmacy created in 1914 by Alexandre Lacassagne and located in Lyon, in the building of the Faculty of Medicine of the University Claude-Bernard Lyon 1.
Wikipedia: Musée d'histoire de la médecine et de la pharmacie de Lyon (FR)
50. Hôtel Bullioud
The Hotel Bullioud is a private mansion on rue Juiverie in Lyon. He is known for Philibert Delorme's gallery built following his trip to Italy (1536). Its decoration is the first experiment in France of a new architectural style, the Renaissance style.
51. Musée d'Art Contemporain
The Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon is a museum devoted to contemporary art, located in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, in the Cité Internationale, next to the cinema, in front of the Parc de la Tête d'Or. It had over 42,000 visitors in 2007.
52. Mausolée romain du Sévir Turpio
The Tomb of Turpio is a Roman tomb that is part of a group of ten funerary monuments discovered on the outskirts of Lyon in 1885, during clearing work in the Saint-Just district. This ensemble is linked to the ancient necropolises of Trion.
53. Château de la Jayère
The Château de la Jayère is a former country house located in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, in the metropolis of Lyon. On the hillside, below the district of La Duchère, it dominates the plain of the Saône and the district of Vaise.
54. Église de l'Annonciation
The Annunciation church is a Greek Orthodox church located in Lyon rue d'Athenes in the 7th arrondissement. It depends on the patriarchy of Constantinople and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of France. It is dedicated to the Annunciation.
55. Amédée Bonnet
Amédée Bonnet, born March 20, 1809 in Ambérieu (Ain) and died on December 2, 1858 in Lyon, is a French doctor, surgeon of the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, member of the Academy of Medicine. It is one of the precursors of orthopedic surgery.
56. Église arménienne Saint-Jacques
The Armenian Church of Saint-Jacques de Lyon or Sourp Hagop Church is a religious building of the Armenian Apostolic Church located in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, at 40 rue d'Arménie. The church is dedicated to James of Nisibis.
57. Mémorial National de la Prison de Montluc
Montluc prison is a former prison located on rue Jeanne Hachette in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It was known for being an internment, torture and killing place by the Gestapo during the occupation of France by the Nazis.
58. Catastrophe de Fourvière
The Fourvière disaster was a tragic event in the city of Lyon that took place on the night of 12 to 13 November 1930. A section of the Fourvière hill collapsed, causing the destruction of buildings and the death of many people.
59. Portail du Château de la Tourette
The Château de la Tourette was a pleasure house located in the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon. It was entirely destroyed with the exception of the main door, classified as a historic monument by decree of January 22, 1910.
60. Espace culturel du christianisme à Lyon
The Espace Culturel du Christianisme à Lyon (ECCLY), or Musée de l'Antiquaille, is an interpretation center of the history of Christianity located on the hill of Fourvière in Lyon, France, at 49 montée Saint-Barthélemy.
Wikipedia: Espace culturel du christianisme à Lyon (FR), Website
61. Église Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation
The Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation church is a church dedicated to Catholic worship located on Place de Paris, opposite the Vaise train station, in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, of which it is a "real visual signal".
62. Le Patineur
The Skater, or The Man of the Future or the Man of Freedom, is a sculpture by French artist César Baldaccini made in 1989. It has been located since 1992 on Place Tolozan, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, France.
63. Site archéologique de Saint-Just Les Minimes
The Basilica of Saint-Just also known as Saint-Just basilica or the Maccabees Basilica was one of the oldest and most powerful churches in the city of Lyon until it was destroyed during the French Wars of Religion.
64. 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.
65. Église Notre-Dame-Saint-Vincent
The Église Notre Dame Saint-Vincent is a Roman Catholic church located in Lyon, on the banks of the Saône, quai Saint-Vincent, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon. In 1984, it was classified as monument historique.
66. Parc de la Cerisaie
The parc de la Cerisaie is an urban park in the Croix-Rousse 4th arrondissement of Lyon, France. It is partially situated on a slope, leading from the plateau of the Croix-Rousse down towards the river Saône.
67. Église Saint-Irénée
The Saint Irenaeus Church, Lyon, located on the heights of Lyon in the neighborhood of St. Irenaeus, is one of the oldest churches in France. It is named for Irenaeus first Bishop of Lyon and Primate of Gaul.
68. Villa Tony Garnier à son amie
La Villa de Mlle Bachelard is located at 7 rue de la Mignonne, Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe district in Lyon, France. This villa is a concretization of elements of the Industrial City imagined by Tony Garnier.
69. La fresque des Lyonnais
The Fresque des Lyonnais is an 800 m2 wall painting located in Lyon, France. It depicts twenty-four historical figures from Lyon and six contemporary figures. It was produced in 1994-1995 by CitéCréation.
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