Île Barbe
The Île Barbe is an island situated in the middle of the Saône, in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, part of the quartier Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe. Its name comes from the Latin insula barbara, "Barbarians' Island", suggesting that it was one of the last locales to be occupied.
History
A monastery, later an abbey, was founded on the island in the 5th century. This was the first monastic establishment in the Lyon region and one of the oldest in all of Gaul. Charlemagne gave it a beautiful library.The monastery, pillaged several times, adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict in the 9th century and gradually became wealthy.
In 816, Louis the Pious awarded the monastery:
- the right to maintain at all time three boats upon the Saône, the Rhône and the Doubs exempt from taxes for passage;
- a decree of immunity and protection for the monastery confirmed by Charles the Bald in 861.
In 1549, the abbey was secularised and became a college of canons.
In 1562, it was looted and burned by the Protestant troops of François de Beaumont, baron des Adrets.
The college of canons was suppressed in 1741, and replaced by an establishment for aged or infirm priests, which was suppressed in its turn in 1783. At the Revolution, everything remaining on the island was sold and dispersed.
The first bridge
In the 17th century, or in 1734, the architect Cotton constructed a wooden bridge which provided access to the Ile Barbe In 1827, a suspension bridge replaced it. It is reached from the Passerelle Masaryk and the Passerelle Saint-Vincent, crossing the island at the level of its southern point and permitting the linking of the left and right banks of the Saône, the villages of Saint-Rambert and of Caluire-et-Cuire. During the years 1870–1880, three well-reputed rowing clubs were located here: the Aviron Club de Lyon-Caluire, the Aviron Union Nautique de Lyon and the Cercle de l'Aviron de Lyon.The Ile today
In the 21st century, only the Romanesque church of Notre-Dame remains extant of the monastic buildings. Only the northern part of the Ile may be visited which consists of a small number of exclusive old private homes and a few vestiges of ruined religious buildings. There is also a restaurant. There are also some remains of a lodging reconstructed in about 1840 as the Château de Saint-Rambert-l'Ile-Barbe also known as the Château du Fresnes, and another château, the Château du Chastelard of the 15th century, reconstructed in the 16th century.The Ile is reached by a 10-minute bus ride from the gare de Vaise, and 15 minutes from the Place Bellecour. Tere is also a Vélo'v point.
The Ile is composed of a public part – terrains for pétanque, a large lawn, a children's playground – and a private part reached via two roads, the Impasse Saint-Loup for reaching the restaurant and the Chemin du Bas-Port leading to the Saône). These two roads are not joined; the Impasse Saint-Loup ends at the door to a private courtyard.