Lyons: Cathedral of St. Jean.
Opposite the commencement of the rope railway, and close to the Tilsit bridge, is the [Cathedral] of Saint Jean, founded in the 8th cent., repaired by Archbishop Leydrade, friend of Charlemagne, and reconstructed almost entirely three centuries later. The chancel dates from the end of the 12th cent., the lower part of the façade from the 13th, and the upper from the 14th cent. The exterior is chastely decorated, but the four towers are too low. The interior, 259 ft. from W. to E. and 108 ft. high, contains some brilliant 13th, 14th, and 15th cent. glass. The wheel window at the west end resembles a fully-blown flower. The clerestory windows are majestic and graceful. First, right hand, is the chapel built by the Cardinal de Bourbon and his brother Pierre, son-in-law of Louis XI. The two windows bearing their portraits, and the curious wheel window at the end, are admirable. The soffits of the arches and the vault of the roof are richly
decorated. In the N. transept is the now useless clock made by Nicholas Lippeus of Basel in 1508. The founder of the See of Lyons was St. Pothinus, an Asiatic Greek, who preached in this city A.D. 177, and sealed his doctrines with his blood. Adjoining the S. aisle is the Manécanterie, 11th cent., formerly the bishop’s place, now the music school for the choristers.
A little farther down the river is the church of St. George (rebuilt) occupied in the 13th cent. by the Knight Templars. Above the cathedral is the Palais de Justice, planned by Baltard, the architect of the large market, the Halles Centrales of Paris. In front is a colonnade of 24 Corinthian columns. The hall is spacious and elegant, but the court rooms around it are too small. The bridge higher up—the Pont de Nemours—leads directly to the church of Saint Nizier, with the façade towards the bridge and the chancel towards the Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville. The handsome portal surmounted by twin spires is by Philibert Delorme, a native of Lyons, and dates from the 16th cent. The rest of the building belongs to the 15th cent. In the interior a broad triforium with heavily-canopied window-openings surrounds the church. The vaulting shafts expand in a curious way over the roof. In the chapel of the south transept is a statue of Mary by Coysvox. At the foot of the pier in this transept a trap-door opens into the crypt, 10th cent. At the south side of the Palais des Arts is St. Pierre, a modern edifice, with a beautiful portal of the 11th cent., all that remains of the original church.
Lyons: Palais des Beaux-Arts. Musée Lapidaire.
On the south side of the Place des Terreaux is the [Palais des Beaux-Arts], built in 1667, formerly a convent of the Dames Bénédictines de Saint-Pierre. It contains the picture galleries and the museums. Open to the public on Sundays, Thursdays, and feast-days, from 11 to 4, and to strangers daily.
Admirably arranged under a wide corridor round the great court are the ancient marbles or [Musée Lapidaire], one of the best in Europe. The sepulchral inscriptions form a most interesting series of epitaphs, in many instances most tender and affecting. Indeed, reading these records of the love of kindred among the ancient heathen, from the Augustan age upwards, one would incline to believe that the Romans of that day were already “feeling after” Christianity. In the left corner of the court on entering is the stair which leads up to the Archæological Museum and the Picture Gallery, both on the first floor. Up on the second floor is the collection of paintings by the “peintres lyonnais.”
Lyons: Musée Archéologique.
The [Musée Archéologique] is well arranged and carefully labelled. The only object we would indicate, as it is apt to be overlooked, is the bronze table, A.D. 48, in the second room left hand, with inscribed portions of the harangue of Claudius before he became emperor, imploring the senate to grant to Lyons, his native city, the title of a Roman colony. The letters are beautifully cut and easily legible. This table was discovered in 1528 on the heights of Saint Sébastien. Germanicus, and the Emperors Claudius, Marcus Aurelius, and Caracalla, were also born in Lyons. The father of St. Ambrose was for some time prefect of Lyons. In the same room is a decree of the Egyptian pontiffs in hieroglyphics. There is a good collection of seals, coins, enamels, armour, carved work, and bronzes, as well as some necklaces, bracelets, rings, and coins, part of a treasure buried during the Roman period on the Fourvière heights, and discovered in 1811. The numismatic collection, 30,000 pieces, includes a series of the coins struck at Lyons from 43 B.C. to 1857. Adjoining and on the same floor is the Picture Gallery, contained in six small rooms, of which the first three contain the Flemish and Dutch schools, the next two the Italian and Spanish schools, and the sixth the French school. They are all carefully labelled. Among the pictures which represent the Flemish school are works by Rembrandt, Rubens, Teniers, Van Dyck, Holbein, Stein, Dietrich, Breughel, Wouvermans, and Ruysdael. The Italian and Spanish schools are represented by Canaletto, Sasso Ferrati, Guercino, Zucharo, Murillo, Ribera, Zurbaran, etc. On the floor of the fourth room is a remarkably perfect mosaic pavement, 5½ yards by 3, representing chariot races in the Circus. It was discovered near the church of Ainay.
Lyons: Galerie Chenavard.