Journees du Patrimoine

Really do need to work out how to do French accents on an Qwerty keyboard.

This weekend was the heritage open days in Lyon and I'm guessing France and the rest of Europe as well, and I got the chance to peep inside a couple of buildings that I've always wanted to go in.

The first one was the Hotel de Ville in the centre of town. I often walk past this rather grand building and catch a glimpse through the windows of big state rooms and chandeliers. It did not disappoint, there were chandeliers aplenty, frescos, silk lined rooms and parquet flooring. All very grand. The only other Town Hall I have really seen was Wandsworth Town Hall were I used to go to a lot for meetings and stuff when I worked for the borough. It was a 1930's building and quite classic in it's style and did also have some chandeliers and an awful pink marble staircase. The council chambers were staid and boring, so to see the frescos and chandeliers in the ones at Hotel de Ville was amazing. In many ways it seemed more like a home for the aristocracy than the the Town Hall, except for the fact you passed several huge photocopiers, a couple of coat racks and occasional recycling bins in the corridors.
The strangest room was the office of the Mayor - it had patterned silk lined walls (Lyon silk of course!!)and a huge traditional carved fireplace. Fine. But then the mayor's personal choice came into play with some 1960's modern art pictures on the walls (at best, lost against the pattern, at worst, clashing) and some quite modern funky furniture and it just didn't work, which was a shame.

The other building I visited was the Fort St Jean perched on the side of the Croix Rousse hill, overlooking the Soanne. Lyon used to be a walled city (with 3 large gaps were the rivers flow through) and there are the remains of several forts in a rough circle around the town. This fort was one of the first buildings I ever noticed in Lyon, as we drove past it in the lorry when we moved down here. It has amazing ramparts that seem to be shoring up the side of the hill and stopping it falling into the river. Later I used to walk past this building on my way to work in Vaise and always tried to peep inside the gates.
Now it is a school for the Tresour Public and stagieres are sent on week long training courses on how to balance (or maybe even cook) the books. I learnt today that it was restored at a cost of €13 million. It was worth it. There has been extensive use of concrete and glass to turn the old buildings into a useful working environment and this looks stunning against the traditional stone of the buildings and walls. Add to this the panoramic 180 degree views of the easterly part of town and you are left thinking - this wouldn't be a bad place to be a finance student!

I'm already planning which buildings I want to visit next year.