Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon-Fourvière

Hello my friends,

Some of you kindly asked me if I could share some more personal thoughts and pictures about my favorite places in Lyon, where you all know by now, is where I grew up :-)

So here we are, one of my top places in Lyon is the Gallo-Roman Museum of Fourvière.

We went there with my other half, our son and my lovely dad. I thanked my dad for choosing somehow accidentally Lyon as a home-port for our family back then when we emigrated from Poland in the eighties. Now I live in the UK (and don't get me wrong I love to be here!) I look at things with a different perspective. It made me realise how, as a child, I was THAT lucky to have grown up surrounded by so so so so so so so so many architectural and historical beauties and many many many inspirational objects as the one you can find at the museum.

The Gallo-Roman Museum of Lyon-Fourvière (in French we call it musée gallo-romain de Lyon-Fourvière) is a museum on the Gallo-Roman civilisation in Lyon (in Roman Lugdunum), previously located in the heart of the Roman city and now sited near the city's Roman theater on the Fourvière hill, half-buried into the hillside on the edge of the archaeological site.

I love how the new building was designed by Bernard Zehrfuss and opened in 1975. Internally, it is formed of a concrete spiral ramp descending and branching out into the display rooms. It is managed and operated by the Rhone department jointly with the archaeological museum of Saint-Romain-en-Gal (my other favorite place in the region! More here about it too!) As well as displaying its own permanent collections of Roman, Celtic and pre-Roman material (inscriptions, statues, jewellery, everyday objects), a plan-relief of the ancient town and scale models of its major monuments such as the theatre and the Odeon, it also regularly hosts temporary exhibitions. The day we came to visit, it was hosting an exhibition about water and its importance for the region.

If you are ever planning on coming down to Lyon, let me know and I would be very happy to help you. Take the direct Eurostar, it is fantastic and so fast, you will arrive at Lyon Part-Dieu in the heart of the city! But of course any airline is fine too! :-)

If you have questions or any comment to make, feel free to contact me!

Bisous Bisous,

Urszula