Rue de l'Université, Lyon 2.25

The Rue de l'Université is a large street in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon which connects the Pont de l'Université and the Avenue Jean-Jaurès. It is extended to the east by the rue Marc Bloch then the route de Vienne. It was named after the presence of several university buildings, built from 1884 until the late nineteenth century.HistoryIn the Ancient history, the street seems already exist. From the east, perhaps from the ancient city of Vienna, it ended on the Rhône where it is possible that there was a bridge. Once the river crossed, the street ended in the district of Canabae, the current peninsula, before reaching the high city of Lugdunum, the ancient city of Lyon. This can be testified by cippi mausoleums or burial found in this area due to the presence of a Roman necropolis located around the access road to the city. A hypothetical layout can be found noting that three discoveries are aligned under the street, respectively, in the rue de Marseille, rue Sébastien Gryphe and Place de la Madeleine. Thus, in 1870, Acceptius' tomb was found under the Citroën garage and in July 1943, four blocks including ancient basis of a cippus and its pyramidion were found at number 33, rue de l'Université.The street was no longer used when the Roman Empire fell. In 1180, the tower of Béchevelin was built by John 1st of Bellesme (or Jean Fair Hands), Archbishop of Lyon. It is located near the Place Depéret and the Pont de l'Université, which led several authors to imagine that the first bridge over the Rhône, which appeared in several texts would be located, not that of the rue de la Guillotière, but that of the rue de l'Université. The base of the tower is visible on a 1550 scenographic plan and would have been only partly destroyed when Protestant troops left the place in 1561. The ruins of the tower were visible up to half of the nineteenth century.