Learn more about Bellecour...

Place Bellecour, the heart of Lyon's 2^nd district (69002), is the biggest square in Lyon and the third largest in France after the Quinconces in Bordeaux and Place de la Concorde in Paris. It is also the largest pedestrian square in Europe, as cars have been restricted to a large underground parking lot.

In the center of the square is the famous statue of Louis XIV on horseback, the work of Lyon sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot dating from 1825. Notice the unique pose of the king who is riding "Roman-style" i.e. without stirrups. At his feet are two allegorical statues of the Saône and the Rhône.

To the west, a statue of Saint-Exupéry sitting in front of the Little Prince who was raised in 2000 for the birth centenary of this famous Lyonnais.

At the center of the second arrondissement, between the Saône and Rhône it is also the center of the so-called Lyon "the Presqu'île". These include the Tourism Office in Lyon. Three major arteries in which two pedestrians leaving the streets of the Republic, known as "street of the Republic" and leading to the Hotel de Ville, rue Victor Hugo, which leads to Perrache, and rue du Président Edouard Herriot.

At the southeast corner of the square, the Great Post Office was built in place of the Charity Hospital built in 1617 and whose Lyonnais got to see the bell tower remained in the landscape.

A nearby crossing the Saône by Bonaparte on the bridge is very fast in the Old Lyon and the Cathedral of St. Jean.