What if history is told by the names of the streets of our cities? Old Lyon has been the heart of the city from the end of antiquity to the Renaissance. An overview of these ten centuries of history is given through the name of the streets of this emblematic neighborhood.
History begins at the beginning of our era with the ascent of the Gourguillon.
This name, probably the oldest of the Lyon tracks, would come from a deformation of the Latin gurgulio , « throat ». It's, it's true, a Gallo-Roman way. It linked Fourvière (the heart of the city during antiquity) to the bottom of the hill.
Christendom's early days are mentioned by names referring to early Christian buildings. These are the streets Saint Etienne and Sainte Croix.
There is first the church of Saint Etienne, which is the oldest church in Lyon. Indeed, it was founded by Bishop Alpinus at the end of the fourth century. Then the Church of the Holy Cross, which was the parish church, dates from the beginning of the 7th century.
By imagining the typography of the neighborhood thanks to Tramassac Street The medieval city is better understood.
The origin of the name of this street is Tres (or Trans) Marsaut. Che term refers to the Marsaut, an arm of water that fell into the Saône. It should be noted that Tramassac Street formed the heart of the city, at the foot of the hill, not far from the episcopal assembly.
Is the humidity of the river the cause of the various collapses of the Fourvière hill? Of course, ancient manuscripts bear witness to disasters in 840 and 1795. More recently, the collapse of 1930 caused 39 casualties and irremediable architectural losses.
Old Lyon lives in trade and commerce thanks to the presence of large waterways, as evidenced by the rue de la Baleine.
It has held its name since the Middle Ages of a port on the Saône to which it led, now disappeared. We landed on the docks the raw materials, the fabrics, the dyes... were landed on the docks. Traboules were the direct link between the docks and the workshops.
The place of government teaches us medieval political organization.
This place must indeed be named after the governors of Lyon. These governors represented the king's power after Lyon joined the Kingdom of France. This connection took place under Philip the Bel in 1312.
Before that date, the city depended on the Holy Roman Germanic Empire. However, since Lyon was far from Aachen, the emperors did not resist the takeover of the king of France.
The Jewish street tells us the importance and prosperity of the Jewish community in Lyon in the Middle Ages.
This is reflected in the case of the diamond that the alchemist Nicolas Flamel discovered, behind one of the lion's head sculptures of this street. The diamond waited three centuries before leaving its hiding place. Indeed, following the terrible decision of King Charles VI in 1394, the Jews had to leave France and, in this street, if this is a legend, leave hidden treasures. Will other diamonds ever come out?
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Lyon was a hub of European trade, hence the need for a Place du Change.
On this esplanade, first named « Place of the drapery », there was a large fair, especially at the fabrics. Exchange transactions took place there until 1630, when a first trading and exchange lodge was built. Then, in 1750, the architects Roche and Soufflot, the future builder of the Pantheon, rebuilt it.
The prosperity of Old Lyon owes much to two Italians, whom the Turquet impasse and Gadagne street honour.
It is first the Gadagne, a family of bankers from Florence, who settled in 1464 and made the city flourish. Then Turchetti, from Piedmont, established in 1536 a silk factory by privilege of King Francis 1and. Their fortunes are such that « rich as Gadagne » or « rich as Turquet » were common expressions.
The Rue de la Brèche reminds us of the sixteenth century and its wars of religion.
This breach is the one that the soldiers of Baron des Adrets, then Protestant iconoclast, dig into the walls of the cloister of Saint John to access the cathedral and ruin it.
