Rue de la République is a street located in the 1st

1st arrondissement of Lyon

The 1st arrondissement of Lyon, France is one of the nine arrondissements of the City of Lyon. It is located below the hill of Croix-Rousse and on the north part of the Presqu'île formed by the Saône and the Rhône, the two rivers in Lyon...

 and 2nd

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....

 arrondissement

Arrondissement

Arrondissement is any of various administrative divisions of France, certain other Francophone countries, and the Netherlands.-France:The 101 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts. The capital of an arrondissement is called a...

s 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....

. This is the main shopping street of the city. This zone is served by the metro stations Bellecour, Hôtel de Ville - Louis Pradel and Cordeliers. The street belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 by UNESCO.

History

After his appointment in 1853, the prefect of the Rhône

Rhône

Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...

 and mayor of Lyon Claude-Marius Vaïsse

Claude-Marius Vaïsse

Claude-Marius Vaïsse was a French politician, former prefect of Lyon, called the "Hausmann lyonnais".- Political career :...

 decided to create three new roads connecting the 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...

 to other major squares of the Presqu'Île

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...

 :

• 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...
  
  , connecting the 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 Place Carnot
• Rue de l'Impératrice, then renamed rue de l'Hôtel de Ville and then rue du Président-Édouard-Herriot, between Place Bellecour and Place des Terreaux
  Place des Terreaux
  The Place des Terreaux is a square located in the centre of Lyon, France on the Presqu'île between the Rhône and the Saône, at the foot of the hill of La Croix-Rousse in the 1st arrondissement of Lyon...
  
  
• Rue Impériale (1862-1871), later renamed rue de Lyon (1871-1878), then rue de la République (since August-September 1878), which leads from the Place Bellecour to the Place Louis Pradel where are the Hôtel de Ville and the Opera.

Two squares have been created on this occasion, both located along the rue de la République : the Place Impériale (now Place de la République

Place de la République (Lyon)

The Place de la République is a square located in the Bellecour quarter, in the 2nd arrondissement of Lyon. It belongs to the zone classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.-History:...

) and the Place des Cordeliers. The street, long over a kilometer, follows a south-west north-east axis from the Place Bellecour to the Place de la République, then a north south axis to the Place Louis Pradel.

In 1894, the President Sadi Carnot

Sadi Carnot

Sadi Carnot may refer to:*Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot , French physicist*Marie François Sadi Carnot , president of the third French Republic, and nephew of Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot...

 was assassinated at the palace of Commerce, located on the Place des Cordeliers.

In the 1970s, the construction of the line A of Metro

Lyon Metro Line A

Line A of the Lyon Metro was constructed using the cut-and-cover method, and went into service on May 2, 1978...

 generated the digging of trenches on the entire street.

The location of the Rue de la République, in the center of the city, and its large number of shops make the street one of the most frequented ones of Lyon by day and night. It is also known by its apocope

Apocope

In phonology, apocope is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Historical sound change:...

, "Rue de la Ré".

Trades

Like the avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Rue de la République attracts a large number of signs, including :

• Luxury shops
• Cheap shops, including Cheap (Prisunic), demolished in 2006, and the fast-food Mac Donald
• Cinemas as Pathé Lyon - Bellecour, or the Pathé Lyon - Cordeliers (ex Nefs 8) and CNP Odéon both located in adjacent streets
• Major brands of distribution, such as Fnac Bellecour
• Many restaurants and cafeterias

Notable monuments and buildings

The Rue de la République is lined with Haussman-style buildings, constructed in the 19th century when the street was created.

• The former headquarters of the newspaper Le Progrès, now occupied by Fnac Bellecour. There is a mosaic "RF" meaning "République Française". This building located at 85 rue de la République was devised by Émile Étienne Guimet
  Émile Étienne Guimet
  Émile Étienne Guimet was a French industrialist, traveler and connoisseur.He was born at Lyon and succeeded his father in the direction of his "artificial ultramarine" factory...
  
  , initially for a theater
• Cinema Pathé surmounted by a belfry
  Bell tower
  A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
  
   with a rooster at the top, a rare example of Art Deco
  Art Deco
  Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
  
   style in Lyon
• The Palais du Commerce, headquarters of Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Lyon and the Bourse de Lyon, with the nearby Church of Saint-Bonaventure (place des Cordeliers)
• The Nouveau Grand Bazar, occupied by shops. The building looks very modern by contrast with the surrounding ones
• The Hôtel de Ville and the Opera Nouvel, both located at the north end of town, Place de la Comédie.