Silk Weavers Walking Tour
2
Details
Lyon’s history is entwined with silk, which dominated the city’s economy for centuries—at one time, almost a third of the city’s population were silk weavers. Jump on a tram and head into the historic Saint-Jean Quarter, part of the UNESCO-honored Old Town, where we’ll visit a shop keeping Lyon’s long tradition of weaving alive. Observe up-close as expert weavers thread strands of silk and gold into gorgeous patterns, designed to adorn couturiers and castle walls—the shop has even been commissioned to join the Versailles restoration project! The creation of such beautiful fabrics by hand is an incredibly strenuous task—in the past, a weaver could spend as much as 30 years of their life to decorate a single palace room. If it weren’t for this workshop in Lyon, the tradition may have been long forgotten, replaced completely by modern techniques. Next, we’ll walk through the historic quarter to some of the traboules, the old passageways that snake between and through buildings, secret shortcuts that silk weavers took to keep their delicate fabrics out of the rain. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience supports Global Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. Our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences support sustainable tourism, offering our guests opportunities to directly impact the communities we explore in a positive way.
Activity Info
Schedule
Start Time
Aug 29 2:00AM CEST
Location
Saint-Jean Quarter, Lyon