Cour des Voraces and the Monumental Stone Staircase
Why is it significant?
Step with quiet reverence beneath the vaulted stone portal of the Cour des Voraces, entered between Place Colbert and Rue Imbert-Colomès. This is the most famous, monumental, and emotionally charged traboule courtyard in the entire city of Lyon.
Key Facts
| Place | Cour des Voraces and the Monumental Stone Staircase |
|---|---|
| Address | Place Colbert 9, 69001 Lyon, France |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.77200, 4.83470 |
| Part of Walk | Croix-Rousse and the Canuts: Silk Revolts, Secret Traboules, and Giant Murals |
| Generated | Generated |
Step with quiet reverence beneath the vaulted stone portal of the Cour des Voraces, entered between Place Colbert and Rue Imbert-Colomès. This is the most famous, monumental, and emotionally charged traboule courtyard in the entire city of Lyon. Built around 1840 at the peak of the silk industry, this immense residential block is defined by its breathtaking external openwork stone staircase, whose six massive diagonal flying arches rise without glazing across eight stacked storeys to access the upper workshop apartments. The courtyard takes its legendary name from the Voraces, a radical republican mutual-aid society founded in 1846 by militant silk weavers who played a decisive role during the 1848 French Revolution by seizing the city hall and defending workers' rights. During the dark years of World War II, this labyrinthine courtyard became a vital operational haven for the French Resistance led by Jean Moulin, allowing underground couriers and saboteurs to slip away from Gestapo raids through interconnected hidden doorways. Standing in this soaring vertical space, you feel the unbreakable spirit of Lyon's people.
Look up at the soaring stone arches of the monumental staircase: the daring open-air design allowed natural light and fresh ventilation to reach the weaver apartments while permitting heavy bolts of woven silk to be lowered easily by rope and pulley.
A commemorative marble plaque on the courtyard wall honors the Voraces and notes that clandestine wartime newspapers, including Combat, Franc-Tireur, and Témoignage Chrétien, were printed in secret cellar presses hidden beneath these flagstones.
Listen to the hollow echo of your footsteps on the limestone: to traboule, from the Latin trans-ambulare meaning to walk through, allowed residents to cross through entire city blocks sheltered from torrential downpours and police surveillance.
Emerge through the eastern portal onto the peaceful esplanade of Place Colbert.