Lyon Sights: Other areas

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Cité Internationale, from the park side.

• Cité Internationale, quai Charles de Gaulle (B: C1). This business and residential area is the most important urban project Lyon has seen in recent years. Designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano (also known for Beaubourg modern art centre in Paris and part of the Potsdamer Platz area in Berlin), it comprises a convention centre, hotels and luxury apartments just between the Rhône and Parc de la Tête d'Or.

• Etats-Unis neighbourhood, boulevard des Etats-Unis (T: Etats-Unis-Musée Tony Garnier). This neighbourhood was built by the famous local architect Tony Garnier in the 1920s to house industry workers. Along with Edouard Herriot hospital, it is one of the masterpieces of this visionary architect. The main axis of the neighbourhood, boulevard des Etats-Unis, was named to honour the U.S, which had just entered World War I when the street was opened in 1917. 25 wall paintings made in the 1980s and 1990s show examples of Garnier's work and his "ideal city projects"; see also "Musée urbain Tony Garnier" in the museums section.

• Ile Barbe, (B: 31/40/43-Ile Barbe). This charming island on the river Saône is the only inhabited island in Lyon. In the 5th century, one of the first monasteries in Gaul was founded there. It became a powerful Benedictine abbey (from the 9th century) but was finally ruined in 1526 by Protestants, during the religious wars. Of the three churches that existed on the island, only the Romanesque Notre-Dame remains. The island also has other old buildings in a quiet and green environment. The suspension bridge was built in 1827.