The Hotel Dieu

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The Hôtel-Dieu is one of the city’s longest buildings with a façade overlooking the Rhône. Built in the 12th Century, it was Lyon’s very first hospital and kept this function until 2010 when it was given a complete makeover. It took seven years to return the building to its former glory.

The main courtyard is visited by around 100,000 visitors every year during the four-day Festival of Lights.

Since 2005, this unique site has hosted artistic projects engineered by Lyon hospital architect Alain Bénini. The closed courtyard is the ideal setting for a calm musical interlude or even a dance.  

In 2012, the artist chose to illustrate the written word in “Correspondances” while the following year, the courtyard was home to all four seasons in “Caresse Climatique.”

Source: Lyon History Museum - Musées Gadagne • To find out more

 

Previous years

CODA

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Under the glass canopy of the Cour du Midi, 20 hinged arms embark on an illuminated ballet borne aloft by an original composition by Lucie Antunes. Bathed in the mist, the machines reveal their mec

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Réflexions

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Taking its cue from Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey, Réflexions consists of three reflective monolithic stones standing tall in the heart of the Cour du Midi. With their sheer,

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Polychrome

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Next to Place de l’Hôpital, in the Grand Hôtel-Dieu, Polychrome creates a fairytale path through the garden of the newly-renovated Cour du Cloître. Playing on the seasons, this reflective and chrom

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Ascension

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The Cour Saint-Henri, nestling in the heart of the Grand Hôtel-Dieu, boasts a remarkable 18th century dome created by the architect Soufflot that is now a key feature of the Lyon skyline. This inst

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Rayonnement

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The façade of the Hôtel-Dieu, which is currently undergoing the largest renovation project in Europe, has finally been freed of its scaffolding and is set to be unveiled at the Festival of Lights.

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Cinq Siècles

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The Hospices Civils de Lyon (Lyon hospitals) architect offers a walk through time prior to the reconversion of the Hôtel-Dieu which is a feast for the eyes and ears. Its heritage unfolds using five th

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Correspondences

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Theses, announcements, prescriptions, letters of encouragement… Writing reveals the history of this former hospital and thousands of letters form a ceiling of white reflectors which change colour acco

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Coudecouleur

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During works at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, Alain Bénini continues to make us dream in the cloisters. Thanks to a system comprising almost 300 ramps of LED’s, he creates a singular, poetic, immensely col

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