If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 780

 

 

 

 

13 – LYON – Le Sanctuaire de Fourvière et la Ville, vue prise de la Tour Métallique., ca 1918-1920s 

English:  LYON – The Fourvière Sanctuary and the city, view from the Metal Tower

 

This unused Vintage postcard features an aerial view black & white photograph of the Shrine of Notre-Dame (Our Lady) de Fourviére and the surrounding city of Lyon.  The picture was taken from the landmark metal tower of Lyon.  The card has a divided back and the typical greenish color often found on cards of this era.  The P ND and hot. logo at the lower right on the front and the printer/publisher’s name on the left side margin on the reverse “Aciens Etab. Neudein et cie – imp. Crété Sicc/ Corbeil-Paris.  English:  Formerly Neurdein & Co. – Crété Printing Works, Corbeil-Paris,” help date the card from 1917-18 when the Neurdein photography-postcard company changed ownership, and the 1920s when the new owners retained part of the same name and continued to use Neurdein photographs on the cards.  The perforated left edge of the card indicates it was removed from a set of souvenir cards in a booklet.

 

The shire dedicated to Our Lady at Fourvière has existed here since 1170.  It has always been a popular place of pilgrimage.  There have been several instances when the Virgin Mary is credited with saving the city.  As examples, once during a pandemic of bubonic plague that swept Europe in 1643, again during a Cholera epidemic in 1832, and during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871 when the city was saved from invasion.  Each year in December thanks are given to the Virgin for saving the city by lighting candles throughout the city in an event called the Fête des Lumières or Festival of Lights. 

 

Over the centuries the chapel and other parts of the building have been rebuilt with the most recent major work done in 1852 when the former steeple was replaced by a tower with a golden statue of the Virgin Mary. 

 

The metallic tower was built between 1892 and 1894.  There is a noticeable resemblance to the Eiffel Tower that was built about three years later.  In 1914 when there was an Exposition held in Lyon the tower had a restaurant and an elevator to take visitors up to the top.  It was used as an observation tower until 1953.  Today it is a television tower and is not accessible to the public.  It is the highest point in Lyon at 372 meters or 1,220 ft tall.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Notre-Dame_de_Fourvi%C3%A8re

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_tower_of_Fourvi%C3%A8re