The Rue Victor Hugo is a shopping street that runs from Place Bellecour at its northern end to Place Carnot with the train station Perrache at its southern end. This is the west side of the northern block between Place Bellecour (right) and Rue Sala (left). The street had several names through the years, first Rue de la Direction, then Grande rue Royale, Rue de Bourbon, Rue de la Republique and finally in 1885 Rue Victor Hugo. It is surrounded by 19th century style 3 to 6-floor buildings. In the late 1970s the street was transformed into a pedestrian street, only the second in France, following the Rue de la Republique in Lyon some months earlier. The street name pays tribute to the famous french poet and dramatist Victor Hugo (1802-1885) whose most famous work outside France is “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”.
For a summary on Lyons streets and architecture, visit our Lyon overview.
