Ainay is an area within the Presqu'ile

Presqu'ile (Lyon)

The Presqu’île, literally the "peninsula", extending from the foot of the Croix Rousse hill to the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône rivers, is in the city centre of Lyon, France. It has a preponderance of cafés, restaurants, luxury shops, department stores, banks, government buildings, and...

 district in the 2nd arrondissement

2nd arrondissement of Lyon

The 2nd arrondissement of Lyon is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon.-History:The first five arrondissements of Lyon were created by the Decree of March 24, 1852, which included the 2nd arrondissement.The current mayor is Denis Broliquier....

 of Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, to the south of Place Bellecour

Place Bellecour

The Place Bellecour is a large town square in Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m , it is the largest clear square in Europe, and the third biggest square of France, behind the place des Quinconces in Bordeaux et the place de la...

 and the north of Perrache

Perrache (quarter)

Perrache is a quarter of the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, in the south of the Presqu'île.-Location:Perrache is located to the south of Ainay, upstream of confluence between the Rhône and the Saône. It is named after Antoine-Michel Perrache, who began to develop the confluence and to expand it to the...

. It is best known for its Romanesque church, the Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay. A middle-class area in the city centre, its buildings mainly date to the Bourbon Restoration

Bourbon Restoration

The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon  – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...

 era. It now houses the 2nd arrondissement's town-hall, as well as many shops along its pedestrianised main street, Rue Victor Hugo

Rue Victor Hugo (Lyon)

Rue Victor-Hugo is a pedestrian street in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon, in the Ainay district of the Presqu'île quarter, reputed to be one of the most known shopping area of Lyon. From north to south, it connects the Place Bellecour to the Place Carnot...

. It is served by the Metro station Ampère - Victor Hugo.

Several hypotheses have been raised as to its name, which may be linked to Athanase (Athanasius) or, more doubtfully, to Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...

.

History

The present basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay was previously the monastic church of Ainay Abbey. A rampart was built between 1313 and 1324 to protect the abbey's lands at the request of abbot Jean II de la Palud. The ramparts were strengthened in 1544, but this did not stop the Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

s from devastating the abbey's archives, church and part of its cloister and the ramparts were later destroyed after 1777 to link the area with a new district built on land reclaimed from the river.

Palud also built an abbatial palace which hosted several kings of France during the 16th century, when the French royal court was still itinerant rather than having a permanent base in Versailles or Paris. In 1536 the court set up home in Lyon, whilst Francis I of France

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

 was gathering his troops to the south-east of Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

 to face Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

's invasion of Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

. On 2 August that year the dauphin Francis played at a jeu de paume

Jeu de paume

Jeu de paume is a ball-and-court game that originated in France. It was an indoor precursor of tennis played without racquets, though these were eventually introduced. It is a former Olympic sport, and has the oldest ongoing annual world championship in sport, first established over 250 years ago...

 court "pré[s] d'Ainay" and, getting overheated, drank a glass of iced water which proved fatal (he died a few days later at Tournon

Tournon

Tournon is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Tournon, in the Savoie département* Tournon-d'Agenais, in the Lot-et-Garonne département* Tournon-Saint-Martin, in the Indre département...

, aged 18). Some think that it was this tragic event that dissuaded Francis I from making Lyon his capital despite it being en route to his Italian Wars

Italian Wars

The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...

, though a street in the district is named rue François Dauphin after him. The abbots' palace was destroyed during the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

.

In 1745 the pont d'Ainay was built to link Ainay with the Saint-Georges district on the Saône

Saône

The Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....

's right bank. In the years after 1777 the area expanded and in 1780 the bridge was still located at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône. A road running south along the route of the old ramparts was named rue des Remparts d'Ainay. Close by is also to be found the "voute d'Ainay", on the site of an old gate into the abbey precinct. An aristocratic district in the 18th century, it shifted to "grande bourgeoisie" residences in the 19th century.