page_title: Place Bellecour
section_title: Statues
hierarchical_section_title: Place Bellecour / Statues
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: allégorie du Rhône (Lyon) France
context_page_description: La Place Bellecour is a large square in the centre of Lyon, France, to the north of the Ainay district. Measuring 312 m by 200 m, it is one of the largest open squares in Europe, and the third biggest square in France, behind the Place des Quinconces in Bordeaux and the Place de la Concorde in Paris. It is also the largest pedestrian square in Europe: vehicles are allowed in Places de la Concorde and des Quinconces.
  In the middle is an equestrian statue of king Louis XIV by François-Frédéric Lemot. Another statue, representing the Petit Prince and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is at the west end of the square. The square also has two pavilions, housing the tourist information office of Lyon and an art gallery.
  The square is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: In the center of the square, there is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV by François-Frédéric Lemot. It is accompanied, at his feet, by two allegorical statues of the Saône and the Rhône, created by the brothers Nicolas and Guillaume Costou in 1720. The base came from a village in the Beaujolais: Le Perréon.
  The first statue was created in 1713 and destroyed during the French Revolution, in 1793, to make cannon. In 1825, the current statue, sculpted in Paris by François-Frédéric Lemot, was installed in the square. It was transported to Lyon in twelve days on a coupling drawn by twenty-four horses. The entrance of the statue into the city was a festive occasion that attracted a big audience.
  There is also a statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry sitting in front of the Little Prince. It was erected in 2000 for the centenary of the aviator's birth.
caption: Allegorical statue of the Rhône, under the statue of Louis XIV
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