ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PRIMATIAL CHURCH
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Primatial of the Gauls, home of the Church of France, the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-Saint-Etienne cathedral is located on the banks of the Saône, facing the Fourvière hill, in the district to which it gave its name: Saint-Jean. The first Christians, gathered in the 2nd century around Saint Pothin and Saint Irenaeus, had built a church in the same area as early as the5th century. At the end of the 11th century, the construction of the Manécanterie, one of the oldest buildings in Lyon, began. The construction of the cathedral is done in stages between 1165 and 1481. In the meantime, the cathedral hosted two councils (1245 and 1274) and the coronation of Pope John XXII (1316). With its Romanesque choir and Gothic naves, the cathedral shows how Lyon is at the crossroads, at the center of all influences. If the interior is remarkable, so is the facade, decorated with a series of 300 medallions inspired by the Old and New Testaments or the medieval bestiary. In 1379, an astronomical clock was installed in the cathedral, one of the oldest in Europe. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Bourbon chapel was built in the flamboyant gothic style. On December 13, 1600, the cathedral received the marriage of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis. The facade was renovated in 1982 and 2011, while major restoration work of the choir was implemented to restore all its brilliance to this jewel of Lyon.
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