The Jura Mountains ( / ˈ dʒ ʊər ə , ˈ ʒ ʊər ə / JOOR -ə, ZHOOR -ə ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border . While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", Faltenjura ) is located in France and Switzerland, the range continues northeastwards through northern Switzerland and Germany as the Table Jura ("not folded Jura", Tafeljura ), which is crossed by the High Rhine .
96-881: The mountain range gives its name to the French department of Jura , the Swiss canton of Jura , the Jurassic period of the geologic timescale, and the Montes Jura of the Moon . It is first attested as mons Iura in book one of Julius Caesar 's Commentarii de Bello Gallico . Strabo uses a Greek masculine form ὁ Ἰόρας ("through the Jura mountains", διὰ τοῦ Ἰόρα ὄρους ) in his Geographica (4.6.11). Based on suggestions by Ferdinand de Saussure , early celticists such as Georges Dottin tried to establish an etymon "iura-, iuri" as
192-600: A basketball team, ASVEL , that plays at the Astroballe arena. Since 2000, Birdy Kids , a group of graffiti artists from the city, has decorated several random buildings and walls along the Lyon ring road. In 2012, the artist collective was chosen to represent the city as its cultural ambassadors. The population of the city (commune) of Lyon proper was 522,250 at the January 2021 census. As of 2011, 14% of its population
288-463: A county of the United States . At the 2001 census, the median population of a department in continental France was 511,000 inhabitants, which is 21 times the median population of a United States county, but less than two-thirds of the median population of a ceremonial county of England and Wales. Most of the departments have an area of between 4,000 and 8,000 km (1500 to 3000 sq. mi.), and
384-475: A humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa ), bordering an oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb , Trewartha : Do ). The mean temperature in Lyon in the coldest month is 4.1 °C (39.4 °F) in January and in the warmest month in July is 22.6 °C (72.7 °F). Precipitation is adequate year-round, at an average of 820 mm (32.3 in), the winter months are the driest. The highest recorded temperature
480-793: A rugby league side called Lyon Villeurbanne that plays in the French rugby league championship . The club's home is the Stade Georges Lyvet in Villeurbanne. Lyon is also home to the Lyon Hockey Club , an ice hockey team that competes in France's national ice hockey league. The Patinoire Charlemagne is the seat of Club des Sports de Glace de Lyon, the club of Olympic ice dancing champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat , and world champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Shoenfelder . Lyon-Villeurbanne also has
576-486: A Celtic word for mountains, with similar putative etymologies (e.g. * juris , "mountainous forest") still appearing in more recent non-academic publications. However, since there are no clear cognates in the surviving corpus of the Celtic languages, modern studies of Proto-Celtic and Gaulish etymology tend not to list any lemmata connected to Jura, and the name must be considered fundamentally unclear. The Jura Mountains are
672-1531: A decree of the Convention Nationale . It resumed its name in 1794, after the end of the Terror . Lyon is called Liyon in Franco-Provençal . Roman Empire (Gallia Lugdunensis), 43 BC-286 Western Roman Empire (Gallia Lugdunensis), 286-411 Kingdom of the Burgundians , 411–534 Francia , 534–843 Middle Francia , 843–855 Lotharingia , 855–879 Lower Burgundy , 879-933 Kingdom of Arles , 933–1312 [REDACTED] Kingdom of France ( Lyonnais ), 1312–1792 [REDACTED] French First Republic , 1792–1793 [REDACTED] Counter-revolutionary , 1793 [REDACTED] French First Republic , 1793–1804 [REDACTED] First French Empire , 1804–1814 [REDACTED] Kingdom of France , 1814–1815 [REDACTED] First French Empire , 1815 [REDACTED] Kingdom of France , 1815–1830 [REDACTED] Kingdom of France , 1830–1848 [REDACTED] French Second Republic , 1848–1852 [REDACTED] Second French Empire , 1852–1870 [REDACTED] French Third Republic , 1870–1940 [REDACTED] Vichy France , 1940–1944 [REDACTED] French Fourth Republic , 1944–1958 [REDACTED] France , 1958–present According to
768-678: A far province of the larger Central European uplands . The Jura range proper lies in France and Switzerland. In France, the Jura covers most of the Franche-Comté region, stretching south into the Rhône-Alpes region and north into the Grand Est region. The range reaches its highest point at the Crêt de la Neige (1,720 m (5,640 ft)), in department of Ain , 5 km west from
864-434: A major centre of the watchmaking industry. The area has several cities at very high altitudes, such as La Chaux-de-Fonds , Le Locle and Sainte-Croix (renowned for its musical boxes ); however, it generally has had a marked decline in population since 1960. Both Le Locle and its geographical twin town La Chaux-de-Fonds are recognised as an UNESCO World Heritage Site for their horological and related cultural past. In
960-721: A major economic hub during the Renaissance . The city is recognised for its cuisine and gastronomy , as well as historical and architectural landmarks; as such, the districts of Old Lyon , the Fourvière hill , the Presqu'île and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List . Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. Lyon played
1056-445: A more uniform division into departments ( département ) and districts in late 1789. The process began on 4 August 1789 with the elimination of provincial privileges, and a 22 December 1789 decree (with letters patent in January 1790) provided for the termination of the provincial governments. The modern department system, as all-purpose units of the government, was decreed on 26 February 1790 (with letters patent on 4 March 1790) by
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#17327662921761152-575: A national phenomenon favoured by the French elite; a tradition which Paul Bocuse later turned into a worldwide success. The bouchon is a traditional Lyonnais restaurant that serves local fare such as sausages, duck pâté or roast pork, along with local wines. Two of France's best known wine-growing regions are located near the city: the Beaujolais region to the north and the Côtes du Rhône region to
1248-470: A poached egg); and the sausage-based rosette lyonnaise and andouillette . Popular local confections include marron glacé and coussin de Lyon . Cervelle de canut (literally, "silk worker's brains") is a cheese spread/dip made of a base of fromage blanc , seasoned with chopped herbs, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. More recently, the french tacos was invented in Lyon suburbs ( Vaulx-en-Velin ) (or Grenoble according to some theories), in
1344-513: A population between 320,000 and 1 million. The largest in area is Gironde (10,000 km (3,900 sq mi).), while the smallest is the city of Paris (105 km (41 sq mi).). The most populous is Nord (2,550,000) and the least populous is Lozère (74,000). The departments are numbered: their two-digit numbers appear in postal codes , in INSEE codes (including "social security numbers") and on vehicle number plates . Initially
1440-763: A population of 1,424,069 in 2021. Lyon is the prefecture of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and seat of the Departmental Council of Rhône (whose jurisdiction, however, no longer extends over the Metropolis of Lyon since 2015). The capital of the Gauls during the Roman Empire , Lyon is the seat of an archbishopric whose holder bears the title of Primate of the Gauls. Lyon became
1536-557: A population of 522,250 at the Jan. 2021 census within its small municipal territory of 48 km (19 sq mi), but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Lyon metropolitan area had a population of 2,308,818 that same year, the second most populated in France . Lyon and 58 suburban municipalities have formed since 2015 the Metropolis of Lyon , a directly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of most urban issues, with
1632-405: A president. Their main areas of responsibility include the management of a number of social and welfare allowances, of junior high school ( collège ) buildings and technical staff, and local roads and school and rural buses, and a contribution to municipal infrastructures. Local services of the state administration are traditionally organised at departmental level, where the prefect represents
1728-466: A significant role in the history of cinema since Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinematograph there. The city is also known for its light festival, the Fête des lumières , which begins every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of "Capital of Lights". Economically, Lyon is a major centre for banking , chemical , pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The city contains
1824-555: A significant software industry with a particular focus on video games; in recent years it has fostered a growing local start-up sector. The home of renowned universities and higher education schools, Lyon is the second-largest student city in France, with a university population of nearly 200,000 students within the Metropolis of Lyon. Lyon hosts the international headquarters of Interpol , the International Agency for Research on Cancer , as well as Euronews . According to
1920-696: A simple hamlet of sailors or fishermen living on the banks of the Saône. Condate is a Gallic word meaning "confluence", from which the Confluence district gets its name. In Roman times the city was called Caput Galliæ , meaning "capital of the Gauls". As an homage to this title, the Archbishop of Lyon is still called the Primate of Gaul. During the revolutionary period, Lyon was renamed Commune-Affranchie (" Emancipated Commune ") on 12 October 1793 by
2016-399: A three-digit number. The number is used, for example, in the postal code and was until recently used for all vehicle registration plates . Residents commonly use the numbers to refer to their own department or a neighbouring one, for example inhabitants of Loiret may refer to their department as "the 45". More distant departments are generally referred to by their names, as few people know
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#17327662921762112-480: Is La Part-Dieu urban centre, which clusters the landmark structures Tour Incity , Tour Part-Dieu , Tour Oxygène , and Tour Swiss Life , as well as the city's primary railway station, Gare de Lyon-Part-Dieu . North of this district lays the sixth arrondissement , which is home to one of Europe's largest urban parks, the Parc de la Tête d'or , as well as Lycée du Parc and Interpol 's world headquarters. Lyon has
2208-481: Is commonly associated, though not all are officially recognised or used. Unlike the rest of the French possessions in Africa , Algeria was divided into departments just like Corsica or Normandy from 1848 until its independence in 1962. These departments were supposed to be "assimilated" or "integrated" to France sometime in the future. There are a number of former departments in territories conquered by France during
2304-642: Is home to the P4-Inserm–ean Merieux Laboratory which conducts top-level vaccine research. The city is home to the headquarters of many large companies such as Groupe SEB , Sanofi Pasteur , Renault Trucks , Norbert Dentressangle , LCL S.A. , Descours & Cabaud , Merial , Point S , BioMérieux , Iveco Bus , Compagnie Nationale du Rhône , GL Events , April Group , Boiron , Feu Vert, Panzani , Babolat , Lyon Airports , LVL Medical, and inter-governmental agencies IARC and Interpol. The specialisation of some sectors of activities has led to
2400-411: Is known as the prefecture ( préfecture ) or chef-lieu de département and is generally a town of some importance roughly at the geographical centre of the department. This was determined according to the time taken to travel on horseback from the periphery of the department. The goal was for the prefecture to be accessible on horseback from any town in the department within 24 hours. The prefecture
2496-494: Is located there. The district of Confluence , in the south of the historic centre, is a new pole of economical and cultural development. Tourism is an important part of the Lyon economy, with one billion euros in 2007 and 3.5 million hotel-nights in 2006 provided by non-residents. Approximately 60% of tourists visit for business, with the rest for leisure. In January 2009, Lyon ranked first in France for hostels business. The festivals most important for attracting tourists are
2592-562: Is not necessarily the largest city in the department: for instance, in Saône-et-Loire department the capital is Mâcon , but the largest city is Chalon-sur-Saône . Departments may be divided into arrondissements . The capital of an arrondissement is called a subprefecture ( sous-préfecture ) or chef-lieu d'arrondissement . Each department is administered by a departmental council ( conseil départemental ), an assembly elected for six years by universal suffrage , with
2688-745: Is the Lägern , situated east of the river Aare. Much of the Swiss Jura region has no historical association with Early Modern Switzerland and was incorporated as part of the Swiss Confederacy only in the 19th century. In the 20th century, a movement for Jura separatism developed which resulted in the creation of the Canton of Jura in 1979. The east of the Jura range proper separates the Rhine and Rhône basins . The northern and eastern part of
2784-493: Is the third-most populous city of France, at the centre of its second-largest urban area . It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône , to the northwest of the French Alps , 391 km (243 mi) southeast of Paris , 278 km (173 mi) north of Marseille , 113 km (70 mi) southwest of Geneva , Switzerland, 58 km (36 mi) northeast of Saint-Étienne . The City of Lyon had
2880-450: Is the only metropolitan authority in France which is a territorial collectivity , on par with French communes and departments . Its metropolitan council was for the first time directly elected by universal suffrage in 2020 within 14 electoral wards, the only directly elected metropolitan council in France. The 14 electoral wards are the following (see map for location): The six wards with names starting with "Lyon" are all located within
2976-538: Is the third-largest public square in France. The broad, pedestrian-only Rue de la République leads north from Place Bellecour. The northern hill is La Croix-Rousse , known as "the hill that works" because it is traditionally home to many small silk workshops, an industry for which the city has long been renowned. The western hill is Fourvière, known as "the hill that prays" because it is the location for Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière , several convents, and Archbishop residence. The district, Vieux Lyon , also hosts
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3072-677: The Fête des lumières , the Nuits de Fourvière every summer, the Biennale d'art contemporain and the Nuits Sonores . Since the Middle Ages, the region residents have spoken several dialects of Franco-Provençal. The Lyonnais dialect was replaced by the French language as the importance of the city grew. However some "frenchified" Franco-Provençal words can also be heard in the French of
3168-654: The Ponts et Chaussées (Bridges and Highways) infrastructure administration. Before the French Revolution , France gained territory gradually through the annexation of a mosaic of independent entities. By the end of the Ancien Régime it was organised into provinces . During the Revolution they were dissolved, partly in order to weaken old loyalties. The National Constituent Assembly decided to create
3264-618: The 1823 French intervention ending the trienio liberal ) and the 1833 territorial division of Spain , which forms the basis of the present day Provinces of Spain with minor modifications, are also based on the French model of departments of roughly equal size. Most French departments are assigned a two-digit number, the Official Geographical Code, allocated by the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques ( Insée ). Overseas departments have
3360-557: The French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire that are now not part of France: Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Dutch Republic : Holy Roman Empire : Holy Roman Empire : Electorate of the Palatinate Electorate of the Palatinate Kingdom of Prussia : Imperial Free City of Wesel (after 1805) Notes for Table 7: Lyon Lyon
3456-576: The Globalization and World Rankings Research Institute , Lyon is considered a Beta city , as of 2018 . It ranked second in France and 40th globally in Mercer's 2019 liveability rankings . The name of the city has taken the forms Lugdon , Luon , and since the 13th century, Lyon . The Gallic Lugdun or Lugdunon that was Latinized in Roman as Lugdunum is composed of two words. The first may be
3552-848: The Huns in 437 were re-settled in eastern Gaul. In 443 the Romans established the Kingdom of the Burgundians, and Lugdunum became its capital in 461. In 843, under the Treaty of Verdun , Lyon went to the Holy Roman Emperor Lothair I . It later was made part of the Kingdom of Arles which was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in 1033. Lyon did not come under French control until the 14th century. Fernand Braudel remarked, "Historians of Lyon are not sufficiently aware of
3648-474: The ISO 3166-2 country subdivision codes for the metropolitan departments. The overseas departments have three digits. Originally, the relationship between the departments and the central government was left somewhat ambiguous. While citizens in each department elected their own officials, the local governments were subordinated to the central government, becoming instruments of national integration. By 1793, however,
3744-635: The Jura ridgeway , a 310 km (190 mi) hiking route. Several peaks feature observation towers (e.g. Faux d'Enson , Hage ). Tourist attractions in the Swiss Jura include natural features such as the Creux du Van , lookout peaks such as the Chasseral , caves such as the Grottes de Vallorbe , as well as gorges such as Taubenloch . The Swiss Jura has been industrialized since the 18th century and became
3840-597: The National Constituent Assembly . Their boundaries served two purposes: The old nomenclature was carefully avoided in naming the new departments. Most were named after an area's principal river or other physical features. Even Paris was in the department of Seine . Savoy , during its temporary occupation, became the department of Mont-Blanc . The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791. The number of departments, initially 83, had been increased to 130 by 1809 with
3936-480: The Place Bellecour , and Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois and Joseph Fouché administered the execution of more than 2,000 people. The Convention ordered that its name be changed to "Liberated City", and a plaque was erected that proclaimed "Lyons made war on Liberty; Lyons no longer exists". A decade later, Napoleon ordered the reconstruction of all the buildings demolished during that period. The convention
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4032-661: The President of the Departmental Council as executive of the department. Before 1982, the chief executive of the department was the prefect ( préfet ), who represents the Government of France in each department and is appointed by the President of the French Republic . The prefect is assisted by one or more sub-prefects ( sous-préfet ) based in the subprefectures of the department. Since 1982,
4128-586: The Territoire de Belfort ; the remaining parts of Meurthe and Moselle were merged into a new Meurthe-et-Moselle department. When France regained the ceded departments after World War I , the Territoire de Belfort was not reintegrated into Haut-Rhin. In 1922 it became France's 90th department. Likewise the Lorraine departments were not changed back to their original boundaries, and a new Moselle department
4224-638: The Tour métallique (a highly visible TV tower, replicating the last stage of the Eiffel Tower ) and one of the city's railways. Fourvière, along with portions of the Presqu'île and much of La Croix-Rousse, is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site . East of the Rhône from the Presqu'île is a large flat area upon which sits much of modern Lyon and contains most of the city's population. Situated in this area
4320-675: The UMP , said in December 2008 that the fusion of the departments with the regions was a matter to be dealt with soon. This was soon refuted by Édouard Balladur and Gérard Longuet , members of the committee for the reform of local authorities, known as the Balladur Committee. In January 2008, the Attali Commission recommended that the departmental level of government should be eliminated within ten years. Nevertheless,
4416-555: The 4th century. The traboules allowed the inhabitants to get from their homes to the Saône quickly and allowed the canuts on the Croix-Rousse hill to get from their workshops to the textile merchants at the foot of the hill. Lyon has a long and chronicled culinary arts tradition. The noted food critic Curnonsky referred to the city as "the gastronomic capital of the world", a claim repeated by later writers such as Bill Buford . Renowned 3-star Michelin chefs such as Marie Bourgeois and Eugénie Brazier developed Lyonnaise cuisine into
4512-412: The Balladur Committee has not retained this proposition and does not advocate the disappearance of the departments, but simply "favors the voluntary grouping of departments", which it suggests also for the regions, with the aim of reducing the number of regions to 15. This committee advocates, on the contrary, the suppression of the cantons. Each department has a coat of arms and a flag with which it
4608-414: The French Jura, the 11th-century Fort de Joux , famously remodeled and strengthened by Vauban in 1690 and subsequently by other military engineers, is situated on a natural rock outcropping in the middle of the range not far from Pontarlier . Part of the A40 autoroute crosses through a portion of the southern Jura between Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine , which is known as the "Highway of
4704-507: The Jura consists of a sequence of geologic folds, the formation of which is facilitated by an evaporitic decollement layer. The box folds are still relatively young, which is evident by the general shape of the landscape showing that they have not existed long enough to experience erosion , thus revealing recent mountain building. The Jura range offer a variety of tourist activities including hiking, cycling, downhill skiing and cross-country skiing. There are many signposted trails including
4800-417: The Lyonnais, who call their little boys and girls "gones" and "fenottes" for example. The historic site of Lyon was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. In its designation, UNESCO cited the "exceptional testimony to the continuity of urban settlement over more than two millennia on a site of great commercial and strategic significance." The specific regions comprising the historic site include
4896-414: The Metropolis of Lyon's metropolitan council were chosen by indirectly elected metropolitan councilors. The current president since July 2020 was elected by new metropolitan councilors following their election by universal suffrage in March (1st round) and June (2nd round) 2020, the first direct election of a metropolitan council in France. The GDP of Lyon was 124 billion US dollars in 2019, making it
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#17327662921764992-444: The Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a 59,000-seat stadium located in the eastern suburb of Décines-Charpieu . OL operates a women's team, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin , which competes in and dominates Division 1 Féminine . They won fourteen consecutive top-flight championships (2007–2020), and additionally claim the four titles won by the original incarnation of FC Lyon, a women's football club that merged into OL in 2004 (the current FC Lyon
5088-667: The Republic (all created in 1946) – French Guiana , Guadeloupe , Martinique and Réunion – the total number of departments in the French Republic had become 101. In 2015 the Urban Community of Lyon was split from Rhône to form the Métropole de Lyon , a sui generis entity, with the powers of both an intercommunality and those of a department on its territory, formally classified as a "territorial collectivity with particular status" ( French : collectivité territoriale à statut particulier ) and as such not belonging to any department. As of 2019 Corse-du-Sud and Haute-Corse are still administrative departments, although they no longer have
5184-449: The Roman district and Fourvière, the Renaissance district (Vieux Lyon), the silk district (slopes of Croix-Rousse), and the Presqu'île, which features architecture from the 12th century to modern times. Both Vieux Lyon and the slopes of Croix-Rousse are known for their narrow passageways (named traboules ) that pass through buildings and link streets on either side. The first examples of traboules are thought to have been built in Lyon in
5280-449: The Saône and the Rhône, divide the arrondissements into three groups: This is a list of mayors of the commune of Lyon since the end of the 19th century. Since 2015, the commune of Lyon (48 km (19 sq mi) in land area) and 58 suburban communes have formed the Metropolis of Lyon (534 km (206 sq mi) in land area), a directly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of most urban issues. The Metropolis of Lyon
5376-467: The Saône ca. 140 km (87 mi) north of the French city of Lyon . In Lyon, the Saône joins the Rhône. While the Rhine flows into the North Sea , the Rhône flows into the Mediterranean Sea . Northeast, the Jura range proper (known as "folded Jura", Faltenjura ) is continued as the Table Jura ( Tafeljura ). The Table Jura ranges (from southwest to northeast) across the Swiss cantons of Basel-Landschaft , Aargau , and Schaffhausen ( Randen ), and
5472-433: The Swiss border of the canton of Geneva , and finds its southern terminus in the northwestern part of the department of Savoie . The north end of the Jura extends into the southern tip of Alsace ( Sundgau ). Roughly 1,600 km (600 sq mi) of the mountain range in France is protected by the Jura Mountains Regional Natural Park . The Swiss Jura is one of the three distinct geographical regions of Switzerland,
5568-675: The Titans". French department In the administrative divisions of France , the department ( French : département , pronounced [depaʁtəmɑ̃] ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities "), between the administrative regions and the communes . There are ninety-six departments in metropolitan France , with an additional five overseas departments , which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 333 arrondissements and 2,054 cantons (as of 2023). These last two levels of government have no political autonomy, instead serving as
5664-423: The administrative basis for the local organisation of police, fire departments as well as, in certain cases, elections. Each department is administered by an elected body called a departmental council ( sg. conseil départemental , pl. conseils départementaux ). From 1800 to April 2015, these were called general councils ( sg. conseil général , pl. conseils généraux ). Each council has
5760-515: The banking centre of France. During the Renaissance , the city's development was driven by the silk trade , which strengthened its ties to Italy. Italian influence on Lyon's architecture is still visible among historic buildings. In the late 1400s and 1500s Lyon was also a key centre of literary activity and book publishing, both of French writers (such as Maurice Scève , Antoine Heroet , and Louise Labé ) and of Italians in exile (such as Luigi Alamanni and Gian Giorgio Trissino ). In 1572, Lyon
5856-467: The bi-polarity between Paris and Lyon, which is a constant structure in French development...from the late Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution ". In the late 15th century, the fairs introduced by Italian merchants made Lyon the economic counting house of France. Even the Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, resembled a public bazaar where accounts were settled in the open air. When international banking moved to Genoa , then Amsterdam , Lyon remained
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#17327662921765952-437: The commune of Lyon. The Villeurbanne ward is coterminous with the namesake commune. All other seven wards each group various suburban communes. The division of the Metropolis of Lyon in large electoral wards often grouping various communes and dividing the commune of Lyon into six wards was criticized by the suburban mayors, as it ended the rule of 'one commune, one metropolitan councilor'. The goal of this electoral division of
6048-457: The convergence of two navigable rivers made it a natural communications hub. The city became the starting point of main Roman roads in the area, and it quickly became the capital of the province, Gallia Lugdunensis . Two Emperors were born in this city: Claudius , whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic Senators, and Caracalla . Early Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under
6144-414: The country's capital city, is a commune as well as a department. In continental France ( metropolitan France , excluding Corsica ), the median land area of a department is 5,965 km (2,303 sq mi), which is two-and-a-half times the median land area of the ceremonial counties of England and the preserved counties of Wales and slightly more than three-and-half times the median land area of
6240-454: The creation of many main business centres: La Part-Dieu, located in the 3rd arrondissement is the second biggest business quarter after La Défense in Paris with over 1,600,000 m (17,222,256.67 sq ft) of office space and services and more than 55,000 jobs. Cité Internationale , created by the architect Renzo Piano is located in the border of the Parc de la Tête d'Or in the 6th arrondissement. The worldwide headquarters of Interpol
6336-407: The early 2000s and is now famous worldwide. Lyon is home to the football club Olympique Lyonnais (OL), whose men's team plays in Ligue 1 and has won the championship of that competition seven times, all consecutively from 2002 to 2008. OL played until December 2015 at the 43,000-seat Stade de Gerland , which also hosted matches of the 1998 FIFA World Cup . Since 2016, the team has played at
6432-399: The first of Lyon's extensive network of funicular railways began operation. During World War II , Lyon was a centre for the occupying Nazi forces, including Klaus Barbie , the infamous "Butcher of Lyon". However, the city was also a stronghold of the French Resistance , the many secret passages known as traboules , enabled people to escape Gestapo raids. On 3 September 1944, Lyon
6528-433: The first part of the word with the Indo-European radical * lūg ('dark, black, swamp'), the basis of the toponyms Ludza in Latvia, Lusatia in Germany (from Sorbian Łužica ), and several places in the Czech Republic named Lužice; it could then also be compared to Luze in Franche-Comté and various hydronyms such as Louge . Further down, in the current Saint-Vincent district, was the Gallic village of Condate, probably
6624-486: The gods. The city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum (and occasionally Lugudunum ). The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as "Desired Mountain" is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary . In contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lug[o]dunon, after the Celtic god Lugus (cognate with Old Irish Lugh , Modern Irish Lú ), and dúnon (hill-fort). The Romans recognised that Lugdunum's strategic location at
6720-620: The government; however, regions have gained importance since the 2000s, with some department-level services merged into region-level services. The departments were created in 1790 as a rational replacement of Ancien Régime provinces with a view to strengthen national unity; the title "department" is used to mean a part of a larger whole. Almost all of them were named after physical geographical features (rivers, mountains, or coasts), rather than after historical or cultural territories, which could have their own loyalties, or after their own administrative seats. The division of France into departments
6816-408: The historian Dio Cassius , in 43 BC, the Roman Senate ordered the creation of a settlement for Roman refugees of war with the Allobroges . These refugees had been expelled from Vienne and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers. The foundation was built on Fourvière hill and officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia , a name invoking prosperity and the blessing of
6912-453: The metropolis was to focus metropolitan elections more on metropolitan issues than parochial communal issues, and ensure the 'one person, one vote' rule be respected, by creating electoral wards of more homogeneous population sizes. Opponents said it diluted the voice of the small suburban communes, which are now part of large electoral wards and do not each possess a representative in the metropolitan council anymore. The two first presidents of
7008-463: The name of the Celtic god Lug (in charge of order and law), or the derived word lugon , meaning "crow" (the crow being the messenger of Lug), but might also be another word lug , meaning "light". The second is dunos ('fortress', 'hill'). The name thus may designate the hill of Fourvière , on which the ancient city of Lyon is founded, but could mean "hill of the god Lug", "hill of the crows" or "shining hill". Alternatively Julius Pokorny associates
7104-659: The new Savoyard territory, while the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created from Nice and a portion of the Var department. The 89 departments were given numbers based on the alphabetical order of their names. The department of Bas-Rhin and parts of Meurthe , Moselle , Vosges and Haut-Rhin were ceded to the German Empire in 1871 following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . A small part of Haut-Rhin, however, remained French and became known as
7200-407: The numbers corresponded to the alphabetical order of the names of the departments, but several changed their names and some have been divided, so the correspondence became less exact. Alphanumeric codes 2A and 2B were used for Corsica while it was split but it has since reverted to 20. The two-digit code "98" is used by Monaco . Together with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code FR, the numbers form
7296-442: The numbers of all the departments. In 2014, President François Hollande proposed abolishing departmental councils by 2020, which would have maintained the departments as administrative divisions, and transferring their powers to other levels of governance. This reform project has since been scrapped. The first French territorial departments were proposed in 1665 by Marc-René d'Argenson to serve as administrative areas purely for
7392-576: The others being the Swiss plateau and the Swiss Alps . Most of the range covers the western border with France. In Switzerland, the Jura Mountains extend over an area covering (from northeast to southwest) the cantons of Zurich , Aargau , Basel-Landschaft , Solothurn , Jura , Bern (i.e., Bernese Jura ), Neuchâtel , Vaud , and Geneva . The easternmost mountain of the Jura range proper
7488-429: The prefect retains only the powers that are not delegated to the department councils. In practice, their role has been largely limited to preventing local policy from conflicting with national policy. The departments are further divided into communes , governed by municipal councils . As of 2013, there were 36,681 communes in France. In the overseas territories , some communes play a role at departmental level. Paris ,
7584-538: The range drains towards the Rhine river and its tributaries Aare and Ill , whereas the western and southern parts drain towards the Rhône river and its (sub)tributaries Doubs , Saône , and Ain . Initially the river Doubs (a subtributary of the Rhône) flows about 100 km (62 mi) northeast, briefly venturing into Switzerland, then changing direction and flowing about 170 km (110 mi) southwest before joining
7680-425: The reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus . Local saints from this period include Blandina , Pothinus , and Epipodius , among others. The Greek Irenaeus was the second bishop of Lyon during the latter part of the second century. To this day, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as " Primat des Gaules ". Burgundians fleeing the destruction of Worms by
7776-464: The revolutionary government had turned the departments into transmission belts for policies enacted in Paris. With few exceptions, the departments had this role until the early 1960s. These maps cannot be used as a useful resource of voter preferences, because Departmental Councils are elected on a two-round system, which drastically limits the chances of fringe parties, if they are not supported on one of
7872-837: The second richest city in France after Paris. Lyon and its region Rhône-Alpes represent one of the most important economies in Europe and, according to Loughborough University, can be compared to Philadelphia, Mumbai or Athens with regard to its international position. The city of Lyon is working in partnership to more easily enable the establishment of new headquarters in the territory (ADERLY, Chambre du commerce et d'industrie , Grand Lyon ...). High-tech industries such as biotechnology, software development, video game ( Arkane Studios , Ivory Tower , Eden Games , EA France , Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe), and internet services are also growing. Other important sectors include medical research and technology, non-profit institutions, and universities. Lyon
7968-441: The south. Another Lyon tradition is a type of brunch food called "mâchons", made of local charcuterie and usually accompanied by Beaujolais red wine. Mâchons were the customary meal of the canuts, the city's silk workers, who ate a late-morning meal after they finished their shifts in the factories. Other traditional local dishes include coq au vin ; quenelle ; gras double ; salade lyonnaise (lettuce with bacon, croûtons and
8064-538: The southern German states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (as Klettgau Jura, Baar Jura , and the Swabian and Franconian plateaus). The range is built up vertically while decreasing in size laterally (along a rough northwest–southeast line). This deformation accommodates the compression from alpine folding as the main Alpine orogenic front moves roughly northwards. The deformation becomes less pervasive away from
8160-428: The status of departmental " territorial collectivities ": region and department functions have been managed by a " single territorial collectivity " since 2018. Despite the intention to avoid the old nomenclature, often the names of pre-1790 provinces remained in use. For example, the name of Berry , though no longer having an official status, remains in widespread use in daily life. The departmental seat of government
8256-649: The territorial gains of the Republic and of the First French Empire . Following the defeats of Napoleon in 1814–1815 the Congress of Vienna returned France to its pre-war size and the number of departments was reduced to 86 (three of the original departments having been split). In 1860 France acquired the County of Nice and Savoy , which led to the creation of three new departments. Two were added from
8352-541: The third arrondissement (which originally covered the whole of the Left Bank of the Rhône) was split three times, creating a new arrondissement in each case. Then, in 1963, the commune of Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe was annexed to Lyon's fifth arrondissement. A year later, in 1964, the fifth was split to create Lyon's 9th – and, to date, final – arrondissement. Within each arrondissement, the recognisable quartiers or neighbourhoods are: Geographically, Lyon's two main rivers,
8448-455: The two rounds by a moderate party. After the 1992 election, the left had a majority in only 21 of the 100 departments; after the 2011 election, the left dominated 61 of the 100 departments. (Mayotte only became a department after the election.) Key to the parties: The removal of one or more levels of local government has been discussed for some years; in particular, the option of removing the departmental level. Frédéric Lefebvre , spokesman for
8544-663: The younger, more active Alpine mountain building. The geologic folds comprise three major bands ( lithological units) of building that date from three epochs : the Lias ( Early Jurassic ), the Dogger ( Middle Jurassic ) and the Malm ( Late Jurassic ) geologic periods . Each era of folding reveals effects of previously shallow marine environments as evidenced by beds with carbonate sequences, containing abundant bioclasts and oolitic divisions between layers (called horizons). Structurally,
8640-526: Was 40.5 °C (104.9 °F) on 13 August 2003 while the lowest recorded temperature was −24.6 °C (−12.3 °F) on 22 December 1938. Like Paris and Marseille , the commune (municipality) of Lyon is divided into a number of municipal arrondissements , each of which is identified by a number and has its own council and town hall. Five arrondissements were originally created in 1852, when three neighbouring communes (La Croix-Rousse, La Guillotière, and Vaise) were annexed by Lyon. Between 1867 and 1959,
8736-490: Was a project particularly identified with the French revolutionary leader the Abbé Sieyès , although it had already been frequently discussed and written about by many politicians and thinkers. The earliest known suggestion of it is from 1665 in the writings of d'Argenson . They have inspired similar divisions in many countries, some of them former French colonies. The 1822 territorial division of Spain (reverted due to
8832-676: Was a scene of mass violence by Catholics against Protestant Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre . Two centuries later, Lyon was again convulsed by violence during the French Revolution , when the citizenry rose up against the National Convention and supported the Girondins . The city was besieged by Revolutionary armies for over two months before it surrendered in October 1793. Many buildings were destroyed, especially around
8928-472: Was created in the regained territory, with slightly different boundaries from the pre-war department of the same name. The reorganisation of Île-de-France in 1968 and the division of Corsica in 1975 added six more departments, raising the total in Metropolitan France to 96. By 2011, when the overseas collectivity of Mayotte became a department, joining the earlier overseas departments of
9024-560: Was founded in 2009). The OL women have also won the UEFA Women's Champions League eight times, including in five consecutive editions from 2016 to 2020. Lyon hosted the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-finals as well as the Final on 7 July at Stade de Lyon. Lyon has a rugby union team, Lyon OU , in the Top 14 , which moved into Stade de Gerland full-time in 2017–18. In addition, Lyon has
9120-472: Was liberated by the 1st Free French Division and the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur . The city is now home to a Resistance museum. The Rhône and Saône converge to the south of the historic city centre, forming a peninsula – the " Presqu'île " – bounded by two large hills to the west and north and a large plain eastward. Place Bellecour is located on the Presqu'île between the two rivers and
9216-645: Was not the only target within Lyon during the French Revolution. After the Convention faded into history, the French Directory appeared and days after the 4 September 1797 Coup of 18 Fructidor , a Directory's commissioner was assassinated in Lyon. The city became an important industrial town in the 19th century. In 1831 and 1834, the canuts (silk workers) of Lyon staged two major uprisings for better working conditions and pay. In 1862,
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