The Bartholdi fountain
The Garonne's four horses by Liberty's sculptor — bought by Lyon, rebaptised Rhône.
Corentin Eustacchi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 100684: Adományozó/Donor: Dobóczi Zsolt. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · FOTO:Fortepan — ID 100685: Adományozó/Donor: Dobóczi Zsolt. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France — CC BY 2.0
The Terreaux is Lyon's formal salon: the city hall's grand seventeenth-century façade to the east, the Palais Saint-Pierre — an old abbey holding the Fine Arts museum, 'Lyon's little Louvre' — to the south, and Bartholdi's roaring fountain as its star. The fountain's story amuses: Bartholdi — of Statue of Liberty fame — carved it for Bordeaux as the river Garonne with four charging horses; Bordeaux found it expensive, Lyon bought it in 1890, and the Garonne became Rhône-and-Saône by Lyonnais interpretation. Freshly restored, it wears its original bronze-red again. The square anchors the UNESCO quarter between the rivers below Croix-Rousse — the silk hill's climbing lanes start here, the Saône bank and the Fresque des Lyonnais are minutes off, and metro line A runs beneath.
The Garonne's four horses by Liberty's sculptor — bought by Lyon, rebaptised Rhône.
A seventeenth-century façade grand enough for France's second city.
An abbey turned art museum ranking just behind the Louvre and Orsay.
Place des Terreaux, 69001 Lyon
Museum of Fine Arts, LyonOne of the most important art museums in France outside Paris, occupying a seven1 minute walk4.4
Lyon City HallLyon's city hall on Place des Terreaux, dating from the seventeenth century, amo2 minutes walk4.4
Opéra Nouvel, LyonLyon's national opera house, and one of Europe's boldest examples of fusing a co3 minutes walk4.4
Church of Saint-NizierA Gothic church in the middle of the Presqu'île, among the most prominent religi4 minutes walk4.6
Amphitheatre of the Three GaulsThe remains of a first-century Roman amphitheatre on the slope of the Croix-Rous5 minutes walk3.9For art lovers plainly: a collection from Egypt to the Impressionists called France's third, in a calm Paris never offers. Two focused hours — or just the free cloister garden with its statues for a poetic mid-walk rest.
The Terreaux hinges three worlds: south, the commercial Presqu'île and its great streets; east, the glass-domed opera; north, the Croix-Rousse slopes with their stairs and bohemian-artistic traboules. Choose your direction over a coffee on the square.
Twice if you can: by day for museum and motion, by night when fountain and façades light and buskers play — the square after dark is among Lyon's finest free scenes.