images of the artistic work which will transform Place Bellecour

The “first step” of the revegetation of Place Bellecour will be done without trees. The City of Lyon unveiled Tuesday, November 12, the temporary work “Urban weaving” selected to create shaded areas on the most famous square in Lyon, which is due to see the light of day in the summer of 2025 for a period of five years Designed by the artist Romain Froquet, the project was selected after a call for tenders launched as part of the participatory budget, where the people of Lyon had favored revegetation of the square.

Read also: “Vegetation” of Bellecour without trees: Perrin-Gilbert wants a public examination of the selected project

“We touch the heart of what Lyon is”

But the technical constraints underground with the presence of a metro and a car park, as well as the requirements linked to the important heritage of the site got the better of the mayor's initial promise: “Place Bellecour will be greened !””This is a first step to consider new uses and develop them. Make this place a place where we stop and not just where we cross” indicated the environmentalist mayor to the press, anticipating a possible disappointment from the Lyonnais who hoped to see more greenery established in this emblematic place.

Wooden trestles evoking the canut looms, 7 meters high and 6.5 meters wide, will be placed on the square, on which stainless steel cables carrying curtains will be suspended to create shaded paths. Furniture will also be placed on the square to allow Lyonnais “to come and live there, settle down, meet“, mentions the mayor of Lyon. In total, these curtains must represent 1,500 m2 of shaded spaces.

Read also: “Outrageous!” : in Lyon, Pierre Oliver calls for the withdrawal of the artistic project at Place Bellecour

Grégory Doucet dismisses the idea of ​​a public debate on the project

“We love this Place Bellecour, but at the same time, we know that we need to transform it. We want to sublimate it and with this monumental artistic work which evokes the canuts, we touch the heart of what Lyon is“, affirms Grégory Doucet. For a total amount of around 1.5 million euros including maintenance costs during the five years of exhibition, the work must be installed in July after around three months of work Furthermore, the idea of ​​putting climbing plants on some of the axes drawn by the project is still under study according to our information.

In addition, low-lying vegetation will be planted on the northern part of the square, along the current West-East cycle path. As part of the Vois Lyonnaise N°12 project, trees will also be planted to the north of the square, on the facade side.

While the Pour Lyon group, member of Grégory Doucet's majority, and the Right, Center and Independents group of Pierre Oliver asked the mayor of Lyon to hold a public debate on the merits of the project, the mayor of Lyon dismissed the demands out of hand. “This project is already the synthesis of numerous proposals resulting from a debate“, he said, omitting however to specify that this synthesis initially promised to green the square, which the selected project does not provide.

As a reminder, in a letter addressed to the mayor, the Lyon en commun group asked “with regard to the initial commitments of our executive to revegetate Place Bellecour, hampered by technical constraints“, holding a “general public commission before the meeting of the Lyon municipal council on November 14“. The subject should thus animate the speeches in the hemicycle of the Town Hall this Thursday.

Read also: Project to revegetate Place Bellecour in Lyon: Pierre Oliver calls for a debate