Lyon

Lyon^{? /i} [ljɔ̃] (French Provençal Liyon, German veraltet Lion, Leyden or Welsch-Leyden, Latin Lugdunum) is a major city in southeastern France. It is the capital of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and of the territorial entity Métropole de Lyon, which has existed since 1 January 2015 and performs the functions of a département. Lyon is also the seat of the prefecture of the Rhône department, but since 2015 no longer belongs to it.

With 515,695 inhabitants in the core city (as of January 2016), Lyon is the third largest core city in the country after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is also the core city of the Métropole de Lyon, which has 1,398,892 inhabitants. The entire Lyon metropolitan region, with 2,310,850 inhabitants (as of January 2016), is the second largest in France after Paris.

The old town of Lyon and part of the Lyon Peninsula were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998.

Lyon is the episcopal see of the Archdiocese of Lyon of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The cathedral church is the Cathedral of Lyon in the old town. The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière was built on Fourvière Hill between 1872 and 1884. In 2016, Lyon became the 61st city to be awarded the honorary title of "Reformation City of Europe" by the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe.

Lyon's gastronomy enjoys a worldwide reputation. The diversity of the traditional cuisine finds its origin in the rare combination of proximity to the Alps and navigable access to the Mediterranean. To the north of the city lies the wine-growing region of Beaujolais, while the Côtes du Rhône adjoin to the south. Historically, the city is closely linked to the canuts, the silk weavers, whose craft was the driving economic force during the Industrial Revolution. Lyon is also known as the "City of Light", in honour of which the Fête des Lumières is celebrated every year on 8 December.

Lyon is the seat of the international police agency Interpol and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Geography

Location

The city lies at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône between the Jura in the northeast, the Alps in the east and the Massif Central in the southwest. The settlement area of the city proper merges seamlessly into the area of neighbouring cities and municipalities, so that a dense metropolitan region has developed here. The largest "suburb" of Lyon is the industrial city of Villeurbanne in the east with 150,659 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2018).

While the old city centre is situated between the rivers and the urban quarters east of the Rhône on the broad alluvial plain, the residential areas west of the Saône are situated on the elevated hills above the Saône loop.

Neighbouring municipalities of Lyon are Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or and Caluire-et-Cuire to the north, Villeurbanne and Bron to the east, Vénissieux to the southeast, Saint-Fons and Pierre-Bénite to the south, Oullins, La Mulatière and Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon to the southwest, Francheville, Tassin-la-Demi-Lune and Écully to the west, and Champagne-au-Mont-d'Or, Saint-Didier-au-Mont-d'Or and Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or to the northwest.

Lyon is located about 470 km south of Paris, 320 km north of Marseille, 160 km west of Geneva and 280 km from Turin.

Climate

Coat of arms