Place des Pavillons

In 1906, Lyon’s mayor Édouard Herriot commissioned local architect Tony Garnier to create a modern abattoir in the neighbourhood known as La Mouche (now Gerland). Work on the project was interrupted when the site was used for the Exposition Internationale et Urbaine of 1914. The new abattoir was active from 1928 to 1967, when most of the vast, 25-hectare complex was demolished, with the exception of the main market hall and a handful of pavilions, including two showcasing the butchers’ trade, either side of the entrance to the abattoir. The market hall was refurbished in 1988, and housed the Lyon Biennale from 1991 to 2000, before being converted to a concert hall. An iconic piece of Lyonnais architectural heritage, this long disused monument stands as a reminder of the economic and ideological structures that governed the world, whose fragile and unresolved repercussions are still impacting many people until this very day.