Chapelle Saint-Thomas, Medieval chapel in Fourvière district, Lyon, France
Chapelle Saint-Thomas is a medieval chapel in Lyon's Fourvière district, featuring a bell tower topped with a dome. A Virgin Mary statue by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch from 1852 crowns the structure and defines its visual presence.
The chapel was built in the 1180s by Dean Olivier de Chavannes on the ruins of a Roman forum. It underwent multiple reconstructions throughout its history, reflecting the changing needs of the community over centuries.
The chapel holds meaning in Lyon's Festival of Lights tradition, which started when the Virgin Mary statue was placed here in 1852. Visitors can sense the connection between this space and the annual celebration that shapes the city's identity.
The chapel sits within the Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica complex and is easily accessed from the main entrances. You can reach the site on foot through the old town or by taking the funicular railway from lower Lyon.
The structure represents the oldest surviving part of the Fourvière sanctuary and displays remnants of the site's Roman past. Layers of construction spanning centuries make it a window into Lyon's medieval development.
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