![]() The Roman-era Theatre on the Fourvière Hill Lyon is called Liyon in Franco-Provençal. It resumed its name in 1794, after the end of the Terror. As a homage to this title, the Archbishop of Lyon is still called the Primate of Gaul.ĭuring the revolutionary period, Lyon found itself baptized Commune-Affranchie on 12 October 1793 by a decree of the Convention Nationale. The city, in Roman times, was called Caput Galliæ, "capital of the Gauls" (see Ancient Lyon). Condate is a Gallic word meaning confluence, which gave its name to the Confluence district. Lugdunum therefore originally designates the hill of Fourvière, on which the ancient city of Lyon is founded.įurther down, in the current Saint-Vincent district, was the Gallic village of Condate, probably a simple hamlet of sailors or fishermen living on the banks of the Saône. The meaning of the toponym would then be "hill" or "luminous mountain." Julius Pokorny associates the first part of the word with the Indo-European radical *lūg ("dark, black, swamp") and associates it with Ludza in Latvia, Lusatia in Germany (from Sorbian Łužica), Lužice in the Czech Republic on this basis, it could also be compared to Luze in Franche-Comté and various hydronyms such as Louge. It would therefore be the "hill of the god Lug" or the "hill of the crows". Lug is a Celtic god whose messenger is a crow. The old Lugdun, Lugdunon, Latinized in Lugdunum is composed of two Gallic words: from Lug a Celtic god (in charge of order and law) and dunos ("fortress", "hill"), the whole thus designating " Lug's fortress. The name of the locality is attested under the forms Lugdon, Luon then Lyon since the 13th century. History įor a chronological guide, see Timeline of Lyon. It ranked second in France and 40th globally in Mercer's 2019 liveability rankings. According to the Globalization and World Rankings Research Institute, Lyon is considered a Beta city, as of 2018. Lyon hosts the international headquarters of Interpol, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, as well as Euronews. The home of renowned universities and higher education schools, Lyon is the second-largest student city in France, with a university population of nearly 200,000 students within the Metropolis of Lyon. The city contains a significant software industry with a particular focus on video games in recent years it has fostered a growing local start-up sector. The city is also known for its light festival, the Fête des Lumières, which begins every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of "Capital of Lights".Įconomically, Lyon is a major centre for banking, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Lyon played a significant role in the history of cinema since Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinematograph there. ![]() Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. The city is recognised for its cuisine and gastronomy, as well as historical and architectural landmarks as such, the districts of Old Lyon, the Fourvière hill, the Presqu'île and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Lyon became a major economic hub during the Renaissance. The capital of the Gauls during the Roman Empire, Lyon is the seat of an archbishopric whose holder bears the title of Primate of the Gauls. ![]() Lyon is the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and seat of the Departmental Council of Rhône (whose jurisdiction, however, no longer extends over the Metropolis of Lyon since 2015). ![]() Lyon and 58 suburban municipalities have formed since 2015 the Metropolis of Lyon, a directly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of most urban issues, with a population of 1,416,545 in 2020. The City of Lyon had a population of 522,228 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 48 km 2 (19 sq mi), but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Lyon metropolitan area had a population of 2,293,180 that same year, the second most populated in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, 391 km (243 mi) southeast of Paris, 278 km (173 mi) north of Marseille, 113 km (70 mi) southwest of Geneva, 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Saint-Étienne. Lyon, also spelt in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city of France. 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km 2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. ![]()
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