Descrption : 

​

Lyon is a French commune located in the south-eastern quarter of France, at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. It is the seat of the council of the metropolis of Lyon, which has the status of both a metropolis and a department. It is also the capital of the arrondissement of Lyon, of the departmental district of the Rhône and of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Its inhabitants are called the Lyonnais.

The commune is located at the geographical crossroads of the country, to the north of the Rhône corridor which runs from Lyon to Marseille. Situated between the Massif Central to the west and the Alps to the east, the city of Lyon occupies a strategic position in the north-south traffic of Europe. As the former capital of the Gauls during the Roman Empire, it is the seat of an archbishopric whose holder bears the title of primate of the Gauls. Lyon became a very commercial city and a financial centre of the first order during the Renaissance. Its economic prosperity was also driven at that time by the silk industry and the printing industry, and then by the emergence of industries such as textiles, chemicals and, more recently, the image industry.

Lyon, historically an industrial city, was home to numerous petrochemical activities in the south along the Rhône, in what is known as the chemical corridor. After the departure and closure of the textile industries, it has gradually refocused on high-tech sectors such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies. It is also the second largest student city in France, with four universities and several grandes écoles. Finally, the city has preserved a significant architectural heritage dating from the Roman era to the 20th century via the Renaissance and, as such, the districts of Vieux Lyon, the Fourvière hill, the Presqu'île and the slopes of the Croix-Rousse are listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In 2020, Lyon is, by population, the third largest city in France with 522,228 inhabitants, the city centre of the second largest urban unit with 1,693,159 inhabitants and the second largest catchment area in France with 2,293,180 inhabitants. It is the prefecture of the Rhône department, of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, of the South-East defence and security zone and the seat of the Lyon metropolitan area, which brings together 59 communes and 1,416,545 inhabitants in 2020. The city has a national and European appeal. Its importance in the cultural, banking, financial, commercial, technological, pharmaceutical, or arts and entertainment fields make it a "Beta-" world city according to the GaWC ranking in 2020, comparable to Osaka, Saint Petersburg or Stuttgart. The city has also been home to the International Agency for Research on Cancer since 1965 and to Interpol since 1989.