Learn more about the Presqu'Ile...

The Presqu'île district lies between the Rhône and Saône Rivers, with Perrache at the southern end and the Croix-Rousse to the north. This is the very heart of Lyon, featuring a number of historical and economic landmarks. The land was reclaimed over the years from the wetlands created by flooding of the Rhone River. Listed as part of UNESCO's World Heritage since 1999, here we can see traces of Lyon's mercantile past. Rue Mercière, which is today home to an abundance of cafes and restaurants, was in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the city's main district for trading and printing. More recently, this economic and financial activity was symbolized by the Palais de la Bourse (The Stock Exchange), designed by Dardel in 1862, which illustrated Lyon's financial power during that era.

From the sixteenth century the peninsula has enriched many buildings as the Hotel de Ville, l'Abbaye Saint-Pierre, Hotel-Dieu which are described on the Place des Terreaux, Opera or the Place Bellecour, which are themselves all the landmarks of this great neighborhood. Some other interesting places worth a detour as Nizier Church or Church St. Bonaventure have been marked for centuries the history of the Church in Lyons.

Also in this northern part of the peninsula, between Bellecour and Terreaux, Lyonnaise life is marked by very large shopping streets like Rue Edouard Herriot or Rue de la République, now pedestrian. Cultural life also has its points of reference with Opera already cited, and more near the Place Bellecour, the Théâtre des Célestins built in the 1880s, typical of the Italian theater with a magnificent hall built by André Gaspard .

Further south, below the Place Bellecour and Perrache direction, focus on the district Ainay with the Basilica of Saint Martin Ainay which dates from the twelfth and is a striking testimony of the Romanesque period in this region. Current trace of what the Ainay Abbey, a Benedictine priory founded in 859, elevated to an abbey which has seen great work by the end of the eleventh century, it is one of the rare Roman churches preserved in Lyon.

Finally, although geographically the "peninsula" that she wanted to extend to the confluence of two rivers, Lyon is the tradition that the "barrier" that is the Gare de Perrache with channels Railway marks the southern boundary of this district.