Place Bellecour
The Place Bellecour is the largest square in Lyon (France). With an area of 62,000 m², it is after Quinconces in Bordeaux and Place de la Concorde in Paris 's third biggest square of France.
Location
The place is slightly south of the modern city center between the Saône and the Rhône. To him perform three important shopping streets of the city, of which the first two are reserved for pedestrians; from the north come the rue de la République and the Place des Terreaux and the new Opera House, which is located on the historic site directly behind the Town Hall, the président Edouard Herriot you. From the middle of the south side of Belle Cours leads from the rue Victor Hugo further over the place amperes (U -Bahn stop amperes) to place Carnot front of the station. On the Bellecour Square to the tourist information office of the city and the metropolitan area of Lyon.
Under the place Bellecour Bellecour is the stop of the Lyon metro, as the intersection of the lines A and D one of the most visited in the city. In the middle of the square stands for the restoration back on his high pedestal an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, only popularly called ' the horse ' and a favorite meeting place of the Lyons ( " On se retrouve au cheval? " Dt " Let's meet at the horse "). His predecessor was standing there on the former Place Louis XIV, until it was melted down by order of the revolutionaries for guns. The Lyon but hid the bronzes of the Saone and Rhone, who were sitting at their respective sides of the base, and brought it to the Restauration out again, so that they are now again the Sun King sit at the feet.
History
The square has been since the 12th century renamed several times: Bella curtis, Place Royale, Place Louis -le- Grand, Place de la Fédération, Place de l' Egalite, Place Bonaparte, Place Napoléon. 1826 a created by François -Frédéric Lemot equestrian statue was erected in the center of the square that represents the former French King Louis XIV.
The Place Bellecour was declared in 1998 as part of the Lyon peninsula by the UNESCO World Heritage Site.