Place Croix-Paquet
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The Place Croix-Paquet () is a square located in the
1st arrondissement of Lyon The 1st arrondissement of Lyon () is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. It is located below the hill of Croix-Rousse and on the north part of the Presqu'île formed by the Saône and the Rhône, the two rivers in Lyon. Thi ...
, in the pentes de la
Croix-Rousse La Croix-Rousse () is a hill high in the city of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a neighborhood located on this hill. The neighborhood is divided into ''les pentes'' (slopes, belonging to the city's 1st arrondissement) and ''le plateau'' ( ...
quarter. It is formed by the intersection of the Rue du Griffon, the
Rue des Capucins The Rue des Capucins () is a street located in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon, between the slopes of La Croix-Rousse and the Place des Terreaux. Straight but slightly inclined, it continues the Rue du Sergent Blandan, begins with the Place des Ca ...
and the Montée Saint-Sébastien. The square belongs to the zone classified
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
.


History

A cross was erected on the square in 1628 by the merchant Jean Paquet (also spelled Pâquet), who also owned the house at the corner of the Montée Saint-Sébastien and of the Rue René-Laynaud. This cross replaced the Croix des Rameaux (Cross of the Palms), which had previously been cut by the
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
s in 1562. Apart from the cross which no longer exists, the square has retained the same form since the 17th century. The square received different names over time: it was successively named Place des Rameaux (1745), then Place du Séminaire (1810), but also Croix du Griffon, then Place du Compère, then Place de la Croix des Rempeaux. In the early years of the eighteenth century, the penitents of Notre Dame de Lorette erected a chapel which was sold to the sculptor Chinard, then was replaced by a building. The Grand Séminaire was at the place now occupied by the garden along the Rue d'Alsace-Lorraine. Part of the space was occupied by the facilities of the rack and the funicular with the time (which were revised in 1976), which leads to La Croix-Rousse. Among famous people who lived in the street are the designers Jaley (1788), Mathieu Durand (1810), and Lyon scholar Paul Saint-Olive (1872-1879).


Description

The square seems more like an intersection of streets and illustrates the very old concept ''platea'' which referred to the wide section of a street. It is frequented by
pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...
s and motor vehicles of all kinds, as it is located on a major strand of access to the various quarters of the
4th arrondissement of Lyon The 4th arrondissement of Lyon () is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The 4th arrondissement of Lyon was created on 24 March 1852 (date of creation of the first five arrondissements), with the same borders of the old t ...
. The square is bounded on the south by two blocks of old houses and is connected by
traboule Traboules (from Latin ''transambulare'' via vulgar Latin ''trabulare'' meaning "to cross") are a type of secret covered passageways primarily associated with the city of Lyon, France, but also located in the French cities of Villefranche-sur-Saà ...
s to the Petite Rue des Feuillants and the Place du Griffon. At No. 1, there is a corner traboule crossing two buildings, with a simple house on the ground floor, a wooden door with a knocker and a dark courtyard. The Cour du Moirage at No. 3 was an industry installed in 1753 by English John Badger at the request of the Duke of Mirepoix, Ambassador of France in London, and is now a straight traboule with a posh building. At No. 5, the traboule is long and spans three buildings. It consists of a small yard and a larger courtyard paved with cats heads, and has two side exits, and a straight exit through a massive passage with four columns in the style of the
Passage Thiaffait The Passage Thiaffait is an urban area located on the slopes of La Croix-Rousse, in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon. It has an entry by a portico (Rue René Leynaud) and is a curved traboule (path) which ends with a staircase leading to the hill (R ...
. The No. 10 is isolated in the garden and remains of arches show that it was originally part of a block on the bottom of the Montée Saint-Sébastien. There are many shops on the square, including grocery stores, a hairdresser, a doctor, a psychologist, a real estate agency, a pharmacy, a restaurant, a laundromat. The site is served by the ''Croix-Paquet''
metro station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...
on line , originally part of the
Croix-Rousse La Croix-Rousse () is a hill high in the city of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a neighborhood located on this hill. The neighborhood is divided into ''les pentes'' (slopes, belonging to the city's 1st arrondissement) and ''le plateau'' ( ...
-Croix-Paquet
funicular railway A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends ...
which was inaugurated on Sunday 12 April 1891. The square has a significant vegetation, including
acer cappadocicum ''Acer cappadocicum'', the Cappadocian maple, is a maple native to Asia, from central Turkey (ancient Cappadocia) east along the Caucasus, the Himalayas, to southwestern China.Mitchell, A. F. (1974). ''A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and No ...
, acer japonicum,
Atlas Cedar ''Cedrus atlantica'', the Atlas cedar, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae, native to the Rif and Atlas Mountains of Morocco ( Middle Atlas, High Atlas), and to the Tell Atlas in Algeria.Gaussen, H. (1964). Genre ''Cedrus''. Les ...
s and
Honey locust The honey locust (''Gleditsia triacanthos''), also known as the thorny locust or thorny honeylocust, is a deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae, native to central North America where it is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys. Honey ...
s, and is the place of many activities organized by the city. Several redevelopments were undertaken in the 2000s: in 2000, the kindergarten Michel Servet was extended on the northern part of the garden of the square. Other works were planned for 2003. Above the metro station, several
stairways Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical direction, vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps wh ...
provide access to the surrounding streets.


See also

*
List of streets and squares in Lyon A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Traboule Traboules (from Latin ''transambulare'' via vulgar Latin ''trabulare'' meaning "to cross") are a type of secret covered passageways primarily associated with the city of Lyon, France, but also located in the French cities of Villefranche-sur-Saà ...


References

{{coord, 45.7697, 4.8359, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Croix-Paquet, Place 1st arrondissement of Lyon World Heritage Sites in France