About this place
The Place du Change was once the financial heart of Lyon, the square where the bankers and merchants of the Renaissance settled their accounts during the city's famous trade fairs. Four times a year, traders from Italy, Germany, and across France gathered here for about fifteen days to change coins, arrange credit, and finance the business of kings. Dominating the square is the Loge du Change, an exchange hall first raised in the mid-seventeenth century and then enlarged between 1748 and 1750 by Jacques-Germain Soufflot, the architect of the Panthéon in Paris. Since 1803 the building has served as a Protestant church, earning it the name Temple du Change. The square is also one of the great gateways into Lyon's hidden traboules, the covered passageways that tunnel through the Renaissance houses of Vieux Lyon, now part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing granted in 1998.
Key facts
- 1748 year — Soufflot began enlarging the Loge du Change exchange hall this year
- 1803 year — The exchange hall was handed to Protestant worship, becoming the Temple du Change
- 15 days — The length of each of Lyon's great trading fairs, held four times a year
📍 Place du Change 3, 69005, Lyon