The Hotel Dieu, the traditional founder of which was King Childebert (early 6th century) is housed in an 18th century building; its façade, fronting the west quay of the Rhone for over i,000 ft., was begun according to the designs of architect of the Pantheon at Paris. A fountain in the Place des Terreaux has a leaden group by Bartholdi representing the rivers on their way to the ocean.
Remains of Roman baths, tombs and a theatre are found in the St. Just quarter on the right bank of the Saone. Three ancient aqueducts on the Fourviere level, from Montromant, Mont d'Or and Mont Pilat, can still be traced. Magnificent remains of the latter work may be seen at St. Irenee and Chaponost. Traces also exist along the Rhone of a subterranean canal conveying the water of the river to a naumachia (lake for mimic sea-fights).
Agrippa made Lyons the starting-point of the principal Roman roads throughout Gaul ; and it remains an important road centre owing to its position on the natural highway from north to south-eastern France. The Saone above the town and the Rhone below have large barge and steamboat traffic. The main P.L.M. railway line runs first through the station at Vaise, on the right bank of the Saone, and thence to that - of Perrache, the chief station in the city. The line to Geneva has its station in the Brotteaux quarter, and the line of the eastern Lyonnais to St.
Genix d'Aoste has a terminus at Guillotiere; both these lines link up with the P.L.M. main line. The railway to Montbrison starts from the terminus of St. Paul in Fourviere and that to Bourg, Trevoux and the Dombes region from the station of Croix-Rousse. A less important line to Vaugneray and Mornant has a terminus at St. Just. Cable tramways (ficelles) run to the summits of the eminences of Croix-Rousse, Fourviere and St. Just.
Lyons has been one of the chief fortresses of France. It is the headquarters of the XIV. army-corps, the seat of an arch bishop who holds the title of primate of the Gauls and also that of archbishop of Vienne, and of a prefect, a court of appeal, a court of assizes, tribunals of commerce and of first instance, and of two boards of trade arbitrators (conseils de prud'hommes).
It is the centre of an academie (educational division) and has a university with faculties of law, letters, science and medicine and pharmacy. There are also Catholic faculties (facultes libres) of law, theology, science and letters, a school of fine arts founded in the 18th century to train competent designers for the textile manufactures, which has also done much for painting and sculp ture; an army medical school, schools of drawing, agriculture, music, commerce (ecole superieure de commerce), weaving, tan ning, watch-making and applied chemistry, and the ecoles La Mar tiniere for free instruction in science and art as applied to industry.
The veterinary school, instituted in 1761, was the first of its kind in Europe ; its laboratory for the study of comparative physiology is admirably equipped. Besides the Academie des Sciences, Belles Lettres et Arts (founded in 1700), Lyons possesses societies of agriculture, natural history, geography, horticulture, etc.
Derived from Italy, the silk industry rapidly developed, thanks to the monopoly granted to the city in 1450 by Charles VII. and to the patronage of Francis I., Henry II. and Henry IV. From time to time new kinds of fabrics were invented—silk stuffs woofed with wool or with gold and silver threads, shawls, watered silks, poplins, velvets, satinades, moires, etc. In the beginning of the 19th century J. M. Jacquard introduced his famous loom by which a single workman was enabled to produce elaborate fabrics as easily as the plainest web, and by changing the "cartoons" to make the most different textures on the same looms. In the 17th century Lyons had 9,00o to 12,000 silk looms. After the revoca tion of the edict of Nantes the number sank to 3,000 or 4,000; but it rose again about 18oi to 12,000. In the mid 19th century silk-weaving began to desert Lyons for the surrounding districts.
The city remains the business centre for the trade and carries on accessory processes. The artificial silk industry has developed very largely around Lyons. Much natural silk is imported from the East and some from Italy. About one quarter of the city's population is engaged in the silk industry. The dyeing industry and the manufacture of chemicals have both developed consider ably to meet the requirements of the silk trade. Large quantities of mineral and vegetable colouring matters are produced and there is besides a large output of glue, gelatine, superphosphates and phosphorus, all made from bones and hides, of picric, tartaric, sulphuric and hydrochloric acids, sulphates of iron and copper, and pharmaceutical and other chemical products.