Traboules Secret Passages: Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.
Traboules Secret Passages
The Croix-Rousse district of Lyon was the heart of the 19th century silk trade, and the courtyards and traboules that pass through it were the meeting places for the local “Canut” silk weavers.
Between courtyards and through buildings, secret alleyways and staircases once provided safe and efficient passage for silk workers to get their wares to and from market unmarred. Now partially open to the public, many of the traboules worm through several buildings forming a secret continuous covered passageway.
The word traboules is a corruption of the Latin trans-ambulare, meaning “to pass through,” and the earliest date from the 4th century, built to allow more direct access to the town’s fresh water source than the winding streets provided. There may be as many as 400 traboules in town—unfortunately only a small percentage of them are open to the public, mostly located primarily in the historic Vieux-Lyon and the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse areas.
The Croix-Rousse district of Lyon was the heart of the 19th century silk trade, and the courtyards and traboules that pass through it were the meeting places for the local “Canut” silk weavers.
Between courtyards and through buildings, secret alleyways and staircases once provided safe and efficient passage for silk workers to get their wares to and from market unmarred. Now partially open to the public, many of the traboules worm through several buildings forming a secret continuous covered passageway.
The word traboules is a corruption of the Latin trans-ambulare, meaning “to pass through,” and the earliest date from the 4th century, built to allow more direct access to the town’s fresh water source than the winding streets provided. There may be as many as 400 traboules in town—unfortunately only a small percentage of them are open to the public, mostly located primarily in the historic Vieux-Lyon and the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse areas.
