What are you making?
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 new exhibition at Lyon History Museum retraces Lyon's industrial exploits.
This history, in particular that of the silk workshops of the Fabrique, has had a profound impact, shaping the landscape of Lyon and leading to the emergence of a large working-class population. These developments have had a lasting impact on the city and its identity, right up to the present day.
Discover the techniques, skills, and daily life of the workers of the past. Lyon's industrial history is juxtaposed with the questions facing present-day work and industry. The exhibition is interspersed with numerous sound and video archives, objects from day-to-day working life, textiles, previously unseen contemporary photographic commissions, and major items from the collection (a drawloom, a Jacquard mechanism…).
Suitable for all, this thought-provoking exhibition is particularly aimed at teenagers from 12 to 15 years old. With its entertaining format, it reveals the inner workings of the world of work and asks the big societal questions: what is work? Who do we work for? Why do we work?
The exhibition on video
Vidéo : Paul-Alain Pagès
An urban tale in 4 defining chapters
A time for fairs
From 1460 onwards, Lyon flourished, becoming a centre for the extensive trade in spices and silk from the East and Europe. The exchange of goods, people, and capital during the great fairs of the 16th century sped up Lyon's transformation into a production-based economy.
A time for the Fabrique
The development of the silk workshops of the Fabrique shaped Lyon, its regional ecosystem, and labour organisations between the 17th century and the end of the 19th century. Find out how professions and techniques in weaving and printing evolved along with the life of the Canuts, their experiments and social progress, and their revolts.
A time for factories
From the beginning of the 20th century, with the arrival of centralised factories and the era of the salaried worker at its height, workers' daily lives (work, leisure, home) changed. Work was restructured, leading to large-scale protests.
A time for industrial revival?
The final space in the exhibition shows the transformations that have taken place in the urban landscape, industrial production, and the reality of workers' lives since the crises of the 1970s and the wave of redevelopment.
Lyon's long and rich industrial history is still being written. The public authorities are now trying to reconnect industry with the area and its inhabitants. With globalisation, the ecological transition, and health crises throwing up new challenges, questions regarding industry's place in the city and giving meaning to blue-collar work are back on the agenda.
An entertaining exhibition interspersed with touches of humour
- sensory spaces:
- a zone for touch: silk, cocoons, bobbins....
- a zone for smells: the spices sold at the fairs in the 16th century in Lyon
- a game where you get to be the hero
- a quiz and observation game on modern manufactured items
- a meme-creating game
- videos and memes
A centrepiece of the collection: the drawloom
The embodiment of the rise of Lyon's silk industry in the 17th century, this drawloom is the only one of its kind to be preserved and exhibited in France. It has been put back together and opened out so that its workings are visible. An exceptional exhibit which allows visitors to see the loom "ready to weave" just before the weaver gets to work. The draw cords or lacs (the cords used to lift the warp threads) are displayed untied, in order to better understand the 'draw' system.
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Intérieur d‘un atelier de canut. Huile sur carton. Balthazar Alexis. 19e siècle - MHL – Gadagne -
La Révolte des canuts. Estampe de A. Denis, datant de 1878. Collection du MHL – Gadagne -
Détail d‘un patron de tissage (mise en carte) pour tissu façonné. Papier. Lyon. Vers 1854. Manufacture Prelle -
L’atelier des tissus façonnés aux Soieries Bonnet, à Jujurieux (Ain). Carte postale. Vers 1930. Collection des Musées de l’Ain -
Saïd, un des personnages témoins fictifs à retrouver dans le parcours de l'exposition -
Démolition de la cheminée de l’usine des conserveries de fruits Lenzbourg, à Lyon 8e, en 1991. Collection Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon -
As a city museum, Lyon History Museum has put together the story of the exhibition by bringing in a number of local stakeholders including:
L’association Soierie Vivante, la Maison des Canuts, le musée des soieries Bonnet / Département de l'Ain / Direction du patrimoine et des sites culturels, le musée de Bourgoin-Jallieu, la société Prelle, les services de la Métropole de Lyon et le programme TIGA "L’industrie reconnectée à son territoire et à ses habitants", la société Denis & Fils, la Holding Textile Hermès, la société Europrotect, le cercle des chefs d’ateliers - club de billard, l’association Vive la TASE !, la mutualité française du Rhône, le centre des musiques traditionnelles Rhône-Alpes (CMTRA), la Fondation de l’automobile Marius Berliet, le musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon, le musée des Tissus, le musée de l’imprimerie et de la communication graphique, le service régional de l’archéologie AURA, les archives municipales de Lyon, le Rize, le CAP-centre d’art Saint-Fons, le collectif ITEM, JST transformateurs, A.Lafont - Cepovett Group, AB fonderie…
Discover two exceptional repositories from the Musée des Arts et Métiers - Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Arts and trades museum and conservatory - CNAM) in Paris and the Musée Mational de l'Histoire de l'Immigration (National Immigration History Museum - MNHI) as part of the exhibition.
Le cercle des chefs d’atelier - club de billard, le musée de Bourgoin-Jallieu, le centre des musiques traditionnelles Rhône-Alpes (CMTRA), le musée des Beaux-arts de Lyon, le musée des soieries Bonnet / Département de l'Ain / Direction du patrimoine et des sites culturels, la mutualité française du Rhône, le service régional d’archéologie AURA, l’entreprise A.Lafont - Cepovett Group, et plusieurs déposants particuliers.