27/09/2012
Traboules of the Croix-Rousse and the famous Lyonnais' mural
Discover the silk weavers' district and the renowned traboules.
On Boulevard des Canuts – up on the Croix-Rousse plateau – Mur des Canuts, or Mur de la Croix-Rousse as it is sometimes called, is Europe’s largest fresco. Measuring 1200m square, the mural depicts the life of the 19th century ‘Canut’ silk workers and the unique character and colour of the Croix-Rousse hill.
The Croix-Rousse is the district where the “canuts” or silk-workers used to live.
The famous Croix-Rousse “traboules” were very important for them.
Some of them have the strangest names, like the “Cour des Voraces”, the voracious men’s courtyard…
History is everywhere on the bustling slopes of the Croix-Rousse: here you will find the ruins of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre where the first Christians died as martyrs.
After walking down the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill through the “traboules”, cross the Place des Terreaux, where you can admire the City Hall, the Fine Arts Museum and Bartholdi’s fountain to get to the “Famous people of Lyon mural”, where you can see, side-by-side, portraits of the significant figures in the history of Lyon from Roman times to the present day : Laurent Mourguet (creator of Lyon’s satirical Guignol puppet) and the film maker Bertrand Tavernier, are just a few of the celebrated figures on this huge street mural.
It’s an appreciated quirk of Lyon that the city commissions artists to use the city’s buildings as oversized canvases. All over Lyon, huge artistic expression of varying types have added colour and interest to what would otherwise be plain grey buildings.
