Welcome to Lyon History Museum!
Discovering and understanding Lyon
Installed in the Hôtel de Gadagne in 1921, the Lyon History Museum collections consist of around 80,000 highly varied exhibits, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, manuscripts, objects, medals and drawings.
The museum is an ideal place to learn more about the many faces of Lyon. It was the capital of the Gauls, the city of silk and of banks, before becoming a city of the automobile, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. It was a place of worker's rebellions and where cinema was invented.
Vidéo : Paul-Alain Pagès - DYLM
A transformed museum, 4 thematic exhibitions
In 2018, the decision was taken to modernise the permanent exhibition of the Lyon History Museum in several phases. Between 2019 and 2023, a new exhibition is opened every year to renew and completely modernise the museum's displays and visitor experience.
This is an ambitious project, which will enable the Lyon History Museum to assert its position as a contemporary, urban museum.
Portraits of Lyon
Finding your way around the city
Opened on 2019
As an introduction or foretaste, the "Portraits of Lyon" exhibition gives visitors, whether tourists or local residents, the key pointers for understanding the modern city. See more
On the Waterfront
Living with the Rhône and Saône
Opened on 2021
Find out about the relationship of the people of Lyon with the Rhône and the Saône, a river and its tributary which irrigate the area and are part of the history and the identity of the city. See more
What are you making?
Industrial and working-class Lyon
Opened on 2022
From the 15th-century fairs where it all began to the industry of today, without forgetting the silk workshops of the "Grand Fabrique" from the 17th to the 19th century, this exhibition at the museum retraces Lyon's industrial exploits. See more
People of Lyon!
Power and activism in the city
Opened on december 2023
Find out what makes Lyon's political history unique, not only in terms of the places and people who represent government authority but also with the citizens of Lyon who have fought for the common good. See more