Lyon - Hôtel Dieu

Lyon's two principal streets radiate from Place Bellecour, Rue de la République to the east and Rue du Président-Herriot to the west. To the east of Rue de la République, extending to the banks of the Rhône, is the Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital built in the 17th and 18th centuries. The main front looking on to the river, was begun in 1741 by Soufflot (architect of the Panthéon in Paris) but completed only in 1842. It now houses, among other things, the Musée des Hospices Civils (faience, furniture, etc.; medicine in Lyons).