Tag: museums in Lyon

Seeing the Lumière(s)

May 22

Dear Liza,

We have been in Lyon almost a month now, and finally did the last thing on our “Must See” list. I am so glad we did!

Most folks who are interested in movies have heard of Louis and Auguste Lumière, the brothers who actually invented moving pictures. They were born and raised, and made their fortunes, right here in Lyon, and we got to visit their house.

Besides displaying the turn of the century opulence and style of the family, the museum put the brothers’ work in context with other related inventions by Kodak, Eastman and Disney. Did you know that August Lumière actually met Walt Disney? Walt thanked Monsieur Lumière for his work, which had made Walt’s work and fortune possible.

There were old zoetropes and other pre-movie attempts at showing movement, and even the very first cinematograph, or movie projector.

There were also snippets of the 1,000 short films made in the first ten years of the movie era, all of which were made by the Lumière company.

They sent camera crews all over the world to film the Sphinx in Egypt and Sumo wrestlers in Japan, as well as simpler scenes of children at the park or men playing cards.

The Lumière brothers’ work in the science of film and radiography, color printing and entertainment, were an example of how training, hard work, and an understanding of popular culture can change the world.

Another day well spent in Lyon!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Finding the Families at Lyon’s Gallo-Roman Muséum

May 14

Dear Liza,

Once they got settled in, the Roman Empire was in Lyon for a long time. For 368 years, from 43 AD to 411 AD, the Roman Empire built and ran Lyon, which was then called Lugdunum.

It’s no wonder, when the Empire fell and the Roman army left, that a lot of stuff was left laying around.

Great piles of that stuff has been collected by folks who came later, from Medieval farmers to modern archeologists, and put into this wonderful, modern Musée at Lyon.

The museum itself is a wonder. Built right into the back wall of the cliff that houses the amphitheater, it spirals down, leaving only the entrance and a few windows to give it away. Artifacts are arranged by era and type, so we can see the progression in ceramics, jewelry making, and glass work.

We get to see the variety of religious articles, from tiny pocket divinities to greater than life sized statues that Romans looked to for comfort and protection.

And the floors. I told you there would be floors, didn’t I? Many of the houses of Lyon, once they were properly excavated, were found to have these magnificent mosaic floors.

I actually got emotional, sitting right there, touching a floor that Roman moms played with their babies on, that dogs ran across, that people hugged and cried and celebrated on. These weren’t characters in a stone fresco. They were humans, making their way through life.

We kept spiraling our way down, learning about how people moved around the Empire, from Turkey and Spain, Germany and Iraq, to make the Empire diverse and powerful.

And when we reached the end, we were at the bottom of the Amphitheater, and just walked across the stage and down the road into town. From the ancient everyday world to the modern everyday world.

Amazing.

Love,

Grandma Judy