Place Bellecour

Place Bellecour is the great open square at the centre of Lyon's Presqu'île, the long peninsula between the Rhône and the Saône. At roughly six hectares it is one of the largest squares in Europe and the biggest in France without any central planting or buildings blocking the view. The wide expanse of reddish ground, kept free of paving stones, gives the place a distinctive colour, and on clear days the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière can be seen on its hill above the roofs to the west.

The square was laid out in the seventeenth century and was originally called Place Royale, a name that recalls its early role as a showpiece of royal authority. Its present appearance owes much to the plans of the royal architect Robert de Cotte. During the French Revolution, the buildings around it were badly damaged after the siege of Lyon in 1793, and they were rebuilt in the early nineteenth century in a uniform style, which explains the harmony of the facades that frame the square today.

At the centre stands an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, a bronze by the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot, installed in 1825 to replace an earlier statue that had been destroyed during the Revolution. Elsewhere on the square you can find a monument to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince, who was born in Lyon, and which shows the writer with his young hero. The statues, flower stalls and the tourist pavilion by the ONLYLYON brand add small points of interest on the open ground.

In practice the square is where Lyon meets. It hosts a big wheel in the winter holiday season, markets, concerts and public celebrations, and on any day families, cyclists and office workers cross it. Cafés and restaurants line the surrounding streets, and the pedestrian Rue de la République runs north toward the Hôtel de Ville, while to the south the area leads toward the Saône and the Vieux Lyon. The metro station under the square makes it the practical starting point for most visitors.

Place Bellecour is free and open at all hours, and an hour is enough to cross it, take photos and sit with a coffee. It is especially pleasant in the late afternoon when the light turns the facades warm. It suits anyone arriving in Lyon for the first time, and it makes a good orientation point before visiting the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Vieux Lyon or the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.