260 historic monuments, the oldest from Antiquity

Sanctuaire de FourvièreClasséSite archéologique de FourvièreClasséFontaine BartholdiClasséTemple de CybèleClassé"Ancien Hôtel Terminus, actuel ""Grand Hôtel Mercure Château Perrache"""Classé+236See all photos

Photos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.

Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.

Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point. 42 monuments have no point on the map.

152 more, named only by their kind

152 more are named in the list only by their kind: 87 houses (maisons), 62 buildings (immeubles) and 3 others. The 152 with an address are listed by it in the full list on POP.

See all 260 on the map

Search the full list on POP

A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France. A PSMV (plan de sauvegarde et de mise en valeur) is the strictest plan: it covers every building, inside as well as out.

The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.

First protected, in 1840: Église Saint-Martin-d'Ainay and Église Saint-Nizier. That was France’s first list of monuments historiques, drawn up in Prosper Mérimée’s time as inspector. 78 were protected in 1937 alone. 17 have been added since 2011.

14% of its main homes were built before 1919; the median compared French town has 7.4%. More of them were finished between 1971 and 1990 than in any other period (23%).

INSEE, census 2023: main homes (résidences principales) only; second homes and empty homes aren’t dated.

Everyone born in Lyon Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.

The record in Lyon starts with Aqueduc gallo-romain du Gier dit aussi du Mont-Pilat (également sur communes de Brignais, Chaponost, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, Mornant, Soucieu-en-Jarrest), which dates from Antiquity. In all there are 260 historic monuments, 56 of them classé, including Palais du Commerce. Of its homes, 14% were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town. Cathédrale Saint-Jean sits at the heart of it all, with 4 of the town’s classé monuments within 400 m. maison dite Villa des Frères Lumière, actuellement Fondation nationale de la photographie is one of the Maisons des Illustres, the homes of people who left their mark on France.

Only one of the 41 towns nearest its size has more historic monuments. Parts of it lie in 2 sites patrimoniaux remarquables, the first protected in 1994. Beyond that, per resident it sits near the middle of compared French towns.