Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Metallic Tower (called La Tour Métallique—not La Tour Eiffel), like the ba-
silica, was finished just before World War I. It was originally an observation tower but
today functions only as a TV tower. The husky, twin-towered church on the riverbank be-
low (St. Jean Cathedral) marks the center of the old town. A block upstream, the Neo-
classical columns are part of the Court of Justice (where Klaus Barbie, head of the local
Gestapo—a.k.a. “the Butcher of Lyon”—was sentenced to life in prison). Way upstream,
the hill covered with tall, pastel-colored houses is the Croix-Rousse district, former home
of the city's huge silk industry. With the invention of the Jacquard looms, which required
