• Metro density 500/km2 (1,300/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 69123 (https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1405599?geo=COM-69123)/69001-69009
Elevation 162–349 m (531–1,145 ft)
Website lyon.fr (https://www.lyon.fr/)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes
lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or247 acres) and river estuaries.
Timeline of Lyon
Historical affiliations
 Roman Empire (Gallia Lugdunensis), 43
BC-286
 Western Roman Empire (Gallia
Lugdunensis), 286-411
 Kingdom of the Burgundians, 411–534
 Francia, 534–843
 Middle Francia, 843–855
 Lotharingia, 855–879
 Lower Burgundy, 879-933
 Kingdom of Arles, 933–1312
 Kingdom of France (Lyonnais), 1312–
1792
 French First Republic, 1792–1793
 Counter-revolutionary, 1793
 French First Republic, 1793–1804
 First French Empire, 1804–1814
 Kingdom of France, 1814–1815
 First French Empire, 1815
 Kingdom of France, 1815–1830
 Kingdom of France, 1830–1848
 French Second Republic, 1848–1852
 Second French Empire, 1852–1870
 French Third Republic, 1870–1940
 Vichy France, 1940–1944
 French Fourth Republic, 1944–1958
 France, 1958–present
The Roman-era Theatre on the
Fourvière Hill
Lyon under siege in 1793
Early Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns
of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and
Septimius Severus.[28] Local saints from this period include Blandina,
Pothinus, and Epipodius, among others. The Greek Irenaeus was the
second bishop of Lyon during the latter part of the second century.[29]
To this day, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as "Primat des
Gaules".[30]
Burgundians fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were
re-settled in eastern Gaul. In 443 the Romans established the Kingdom
of the Burgundians, and Lugdunum became its capital in 461. In 843,
under the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon went to the Holy Roman Emperor
Lothair I. It later was made part of the Kingdom of Arles which was
incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033. Lyon did not come
under French control until the
14th century.
Fernand Braudel remarked,
"Historians of Lyon are not
sufficiently aware of the bi-
polarity between Paris and Lyon,
which is a constant structure in
French development...from the
late Middle Ages to the Industrial
Revolution".[31] In the late 15th century, the fairs introduced by Italian
merchants made Lyon the economic counting house of France. Even the
Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, resembled a public bazaar where
accounts were settled in the open air. When international banking moved
to Genoa, then Amsterdam, Lyon remained the banking centre of
France.
During the Renaissance, the city's development was driven by the silk
trade, which strengthened its ties to Italy. Italian influence on Lyon's
architecture is still visible among historic buildings.[32] In the late 1400s
and 1500s Lyon was also a key centre of literary activity and book
publishing, both of French writers (such as Maurice Scève, Antoine
Heroet, and Louise Labé) and of Italians in exile (such as Luigi
Alamanni and Gian Giorgio Trissino).
In 1572, Lyon was a scene of mass violence by Catholics against
Protestant Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Two
centuries later, Lyon was again convulsed by violence during the French
Revolution, when the citizenry rose up against the National Convention
and supported the Girondins. The city was besieged by Revolutionary armies for over
two months before it surrendered in October 1793. Many buildings were destroyed,
especially around the Place Bellecour, and Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois and Joseph
Fouché administered the execution of more than 2,000 people. The Convention
ordered that its name be changed to "Liberated City", and a plaque was erected that
proclaimed "Lyons made war on Liberty; Lyons no longer exists". A decade later,
Napoleon ordered the reconstruction of all the buildings demolished during that
period.
Modern Lyon