At the crossroads of (all) the pathways
 The first signs of human habitation in Rhone-Alps go back as far as 32,000 B.C. with, notably, the rock paintings of the Grotte de Chauvet. With a marked presence throughout the region during the Neolithic period, no less than eight Gallic peoples shared the territory before the arrival of the Romans. The Gallo-Roman period has left extraordinary remains such as the Roman theatre and the Odeon on the Fourvière hillside in Lyon.
Hundreds of castles
If there are relatively few traces left of the Middle-Ages, there are many buildings that date from that period from the Middle-Ages to the Revolution: the nobility and the church built more than 800 castles, churches and monasteries. The territory of the Rhone-Alps as we know it today dates from the 14th century, from the time of the Hundred Years War. The Dauphiné was then attached to France; in 1601, Henry IV annexed the Bugey and the Pays de Gex to the Kingdom of France. The Principality of the Dombes followed in 1762 and Savoy in 1860. The silk industry, started by François Ist in the 16th century and re-launched by Napoleon in the middle of the 19th century, helped set the foundations of a region which became an administrative entity in 1960.
Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site since 1998, the ancient capital of the Gauls, Lyon, with its 2,000 years of history, is of exceptional historical value. With its Renaissance quarter of 17th century Italian design, it possesses the most extensive historical area under preservation in France. Contemporary architecture also has its importance: the convent of Sainte-Marie de la Tourette, designed by Le Corbusier and built at the end of the 20th century, the TGV station at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport. This entered service in 1994 and resembles a bird spreading giant wings in a maze of concrete, steel and glass.
A long history of fine fare
The reputation for fine food and drink enjoyed by the region finds its roots in a long tradition of appreciation for the finer things in life. From the 17th century, Lyon’s reputation and its unique know-how was largely a reflection of the skills of the fair sex, cooks working for the bourgeoisie, workers’ wives or those famous “mothers” who held open house for the journeymen members of the craft associations.
Photo: MCG
|
Neighbouring France 
Haut