The Mur des Canuts covers over twelve hundred square meters of blank wall with a hyper-realistic depiction of a neighborhood street. It portrays the sloping staircases, shuttered windows, and bustling residents of the Croix-Rousse…
Painted Walls of Lyon
This walk climbs the historic slopes of Croix-Rousse to see the monumental trompe-l'œil murals that turn Lyon's blank building facades into open-air history museums. You'll see how local artists have captured the city's literary heroes, historic silk weavers, and everyday community life.
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1. Fresco "The library of the city"
2. Fresque des Lyonnais
The Fresque des Lyonnais covers the entire side of a building, turning a plain apartment block into a crowded gallery of local celebrities. Twenty-four figures from Lyon’s history occupy the balconies painted across the facade, from Roman…
3. Fresque Hommage à Tony Tollet
The mural at the corner of Rue de l'Annonciade and Rue Saint-Benoit is a towering, detailed tribute to Tony Tollet. Tollet spent decades painting portraits of the Lyon elite and scenes of city life, and he anchored the local art scene from…
4. Fresque Végétale Lumière
The Fresque Végétale Lumière climbs the tall, narrow side of a building at the corner of Rue de l'Annonciade. It functions as a vertical garden, covering the wall in a grid of living plants fed by an automated irrigation system. At night,…
5. Fresque "Route de la Soie
The facade of the building on the Rue Pierre Blanc features a sprawling, colorful mural depicting the ancient Silk Road. It spans the entire height of the structure, showing camel caravans traversing mountainous terrain and bustling…
6. Mur des Canuts
The Mur des Canuts covers the side of a building with a massive, painted mural that looks like a street sloping upward into a neighborhood. It spans over thirteen thousand square feet, making it the largest trompe l'oeil wall in Europe.…