The punched cards
Programming by holes preceded the computer by 150 years and inspired Babbage.
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The commentary is in French at most times, though English tours or translated written material are sometimes offered. Ask or check the site before booking. Even in French, the loom demonstration itself is largely comprehensible visually.
Lyon was the capital of the European silk industry for centuries, under a royal privilege granted in the sixteenth. At its height tens of thousands of weavers worked in the city, and the trade shaped its architecture, its classes and its politics. Understanding that explains much of what you see in Croix-Rousse and the other museums.
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A museum and working workshop in the Croix-Rousse quarter devoted to the history of Lyon's silk weavers, the craftsmen known as the canuts. The heart of the visit is a live demonstration: an original Jacquard loom is worked in front of you, with an explanation of how the punched cards that control the pattern function. Those cards are why the loom appears in the history of computing — the principle of programming by holes preceded the computer by a century and a half, and Charles Babbage drew on it. The social story matters just as much. The canuts worked in their own flats on enormous looms, which is why the Croix-Rousse quarter was built with exceptionally high ceilings. When their pay collapsed they rose in 1831 and 1834, in what count among the first workers' revolts of industrial Europe. Practical points: the visit is normally a guided tour of about an hour, delivered mainly in French — ask about English times or materials. Booking ahead helps, as the place is small.
Programming by holes preceded the computer by 150 years and inspired Babbage.
Croix-Rousse flats were built tall to hold enormous looms indoors.
Among the first workers' uprisings in industrial Europe.
Croix-Rousse quarter, Lyon