Visite de Musee Gallo-Romain, Vieux-Lyon renaissance et Traboules

Mardi 7 décembre 2010 :  

                       

1 - Visite du  Musée Gallo-Romain 

09H45 : Rendez-vous  devant l’entrée du Musée Gallo-Romain.

12H00 : Pique nique dans St Jean.

2 - Visite du vieux Lyon

13h30 : Rendez-vous sortie Métro Vieux Lyon, Avenue A.Max, Lyon

13h45 – 15h45 : Visite du Vieux-Lyon Renaissance et ses Traboules.

16h30 : Rendez-vous sortie Métro Vieux Lyon, Avenue A.Max, Lyon

We woke to a drizzly, dull grey, misty day with a forecast temperature of a warm 13 degrees, much like a Melbourne Winter's day! We breakfasted early so we could be at the Musee Gallo-Romain or Museum of Gallo Roman Civilizations on Fourvier Hill to meet the girls by 9.45am for our first excursion with Fabienne. We teachers were very excited to be seeing the girls since the day we arrived, and they were probably excited to be seeing each other!

Our guide showed us around the main parts of the museum and explained the history of Lyon, its aqueducts, people, way of life and architecture and the many treasures that had been brought to the museum. Lyon was previously called Lugdunum ( "City of Lugus" or "Mount of Light") which, according to Cicero in 44BC, was a resettlement of Roman 5th Legion soldiers.

The artifacts in the museum and moreso, the ruins of the amphitheatre outside, transport you to an ancient time ............. The Triumph of Bacchus sarcophagus trough, below is expertly carved from Italian Carrera marble, with a detail below right.....

Hadrien's amphitheatre as it appeared on Fourvier Hill after 43 BC

A named tier from the amphitheatre.....

Medallions on pottery below left show gladiator scenes,  and some ancient coins below, depicting the altar of Rome and Augustus on the reverse side............

               

 A striking mainly black and white mosaic floor, unearthed in a garden in Lyon, has many beautiful coloured pieces, the dark blue is lappis lazuri from northern India. the scene is a chariot race in the enormous elongated circus, like the circo maxima in Rome! People gambled on the outcome of the races....

 Many pieces of pottery show scenes from the races........

                      

                  

Some of the coloured marbles imported from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Africa, Italy etc by the gallo-romans for their decorative mosaics, sculpture and building .....

 Another superb roman mosaic floor................

Emperor Claudius was born in Lugdunum in 10BC.

We saw the famous Claudius Table - a bronze plaque with the speech that Claudius gave to the senate asking them to grant the inhabitants of the city Roman citizenship

Some of the beautifully crafted bronze statues.......

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After the tour, we walked towards the basilica with its striking gold statue of the Virgin Mary on top of one of the domes.....

No visit to Fourvier Hill would be complete without a look inside the exquisite Basilique Fourvier...

The huge wall mosaics are amazing, so intricate and impressive with their gold inlay ....

 The massive marble columns and soaring vaulted ceilings are majestic. So much to take in!

We then walked dowen the picturesque windy path to the river below, a walk we were unable to do a couple of days ago because of the snow and slippery ice, now melted!

ue to the steep steps and adjacent houses, this part of the walk reminded me of the walk down from Sacre Coeur in Paris...

Jill standing on a bollard that went down!!

 We spent some time in Cathedrale St-Jean, saw the special astronomical clock chime at 2pm and learnt about the architecture and windows from our guide.....

It took about 5 generations of workers to build this church - about 200 years from the 12th to 14th Centuries, and the changing architectural styles can be seen in the various shapes of the arches along the upper balcony.....

 Outside, in Place St-Jean, the facade of the church is covered in scaffolding and preparations are being made for the start of the Fete des Lumieres tomorrow night, with this huge white canvas disk being craned into position, we will see it all lit up tomorrow night!!

We were led into the cobble-stoned Rue St Jean up to a big old wooden door and this sign, asking us to respect the people who live in the traboules or passageways and be silent while walking through. Going into the troboules transports the visitor into another time - back to the 4th century AD, being the oldest traboules.

The wrought iron above the doorway at #54 which leads into the La Longue Traboule , the long traboule which winds its way through 4 different buildings and courtyards and links Rue St Jean to Rue du Boeuf

Unless you were looking for the troboules you would walk right past them, as we did yesterday when we visited this area.

Some of the old doorways we passed through into and out of the troboules......

Youn walk through passageways and courtyards, some below ground level. Some passageways link 2 streets, one goesw down 7 floors, crosses an alley and 2 buildings before exiting 2 streetrs below. The maze of traboules is so complex that inhabitants were known to use them to flee the enemy during the French Revolution and later, during WWII, to escape the gestapo......

Those below street level were accessed by worn stone steps, were musty and damp.....

Some of the 4, 5 or 6 storey apartment blocks in the traboules, where people still live today.

They aare generally yellow and cream pastel colours and have window plant pots, terraces and many are decorated with intricate wrought iron....

some of the courtyards we entered and crossed..............

Some had interesting towers housing spiral staircases and attic-style rooms as the top. The brighter colour of this building is due to the Italian merchants who occupied them

Medieval streetscapes in Vieux Lyon - around Rue St-Jean and Rue du Boeuf

See the little statue on the corner to signify Ox Street!

One passageway comes out at the river bank!

Salon de The- A gorgeous cake shop in Rue St_Jean, selling hiuge meringues, biscuits, nougat and other patisserie ...........

A couple of ring-ins ( RHS) snuck into our photo!

You can see the unusual white lights being set up in the trees for the festival opening tomorrow night, but more on that later, no doubt.......