The Rue des Marronniers () is a street located in the Bellecour quarter, in the

2nd arrondissement of Lyon The 2nd arrondissement of Lyon () is one of the nine arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of the City of Lyon. History The first five Arrondissements of Lyon, arrondissements of Lyon were created by the Decree of March 24, 1852, which included ...

. It is a small paved

pedestrian street Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

famous for its many

bouchon A bouchon () is a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France, that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, coq-au-vin, "salade lyonnaise" duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as '' nouvelle ...

s. It is served by the metro station ''Bellecour'' and many buses. The street belongs to a zone classified as a

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.

History

Located near the

Place Bellecour The Place Bellecour () is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m (6.2 ha or 15 acres), it is one of the largest open squares (without any patches of greenery or ...

and the

Place Antonin-Poncet The Place Antonin-Poncet () is a square located in the Bellecour quarter, near the Place Bellecour, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It is served by the metro station ''Bellecour'' of the lines A and D, and by many buses. The square belo ...

, the street was named after the trees that lined the square (they have since been removed) on its eastern side until the eighteenth century, after being named Rue de Jérusalem, then Rue Neuve des Basses-brayes. Its current name was chosen by consular decree of 30 September 1723. It was drawn in the early eighteenth century, during the construction of buildings to the east of the Place Bellecour. Mayor of Lyon and member of the National Assembly Démophile Laforest lived here in the 1849. Many architects participated in the construction of buildings, including Pierre Gauthier (No. 1), Marc-Antoine Trollier (No. 5), Melchior Munet (No. 7), Gabriel Rigod (No. 11). Even numbers 2 to 10 were built in 1714, demolished in 1793 and rebuilt in 1810. The street became pedestrian in the late twentieth century.

Architecture and notable monuments

The Théâtre des Marronniers is the most famous monument of the street. In 1952,

Roger Planchon Roger Planchon (; born 12 September 1931 in Saint-Chamond, Loire, died on 12 May 2009 in Paris), was a French playwright, director, and filmmaker. Biography Roger Planchon spent his childhood in the Ardèche, notably in Dornas. He found its ins ...

created the Théâtre de la Comédie at number 3 bis, a former locksmith's workshop. When he left Lyon for

Villeurbanne Villeurbanne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. It is situated northeast of Lyon, with which it forms the heart of the second-largest metropolitan area in France ...

, Marcel Maréchal succeeded him and installed the Théâtre du Cothurne. Many famous actors did their training here (

Pierre Arditi Pierre Arditi (born 1 December 1944) is a French actor, whose career in film, stage, and television has spanned six decades. He is known for his collaboration with director Alain Resnais in nine films, including '' Mélo'' (1986) and '' Smoking ...

, Catherine Arditi,

Marcel Bozonnet Marcel-Louis Bozonnet (born 18 May 1944, in Semur-en-Auxois), is a French actor. Bozonnet entered the Comédie-Française in 1982, and became a " sociétaire" in 1986. He subsequently directed the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatiq ...

Maurice Bénichou Maurice Bénichou (23 January 1943 in Tlemcen, French Algeria – 14 June 2019) was a French actor. His best known roles include three collaborations with director Michael Haneke ('' Code inconnu'', '' Le Temps du Loup'', and '' Caché''), and ...

or Bernard Ballet). In 1986, the small theatre was turned into a cinema named CNP Bellecour, currently open on the Rue de la Barre. As of 2008, there is still a Théâtre des Marronniers, but it is now at number 7. The traboule at No. 3 bis crosses four buildings and has an interesting architecture. It starts with a porte-cochere and leads to the former Théâtre des Marronniers. It has two outputs: the first one ends with a semicircular gate, a paved floor and a

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

-styled building, and the second one, blocked up, is in the same three-floor building but higher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rue Des Marronniers 2nd arrondissement of Lyon Marronniers World Heritage Sites in France Pedestrian streets in France