Former Sainte-Croix church of Lyon

About

The Sainte-Croix church in Lyon is a Catholic religious building destroyed in the 19th century. It is the northernmost church of the Lyon episcopal group comprising St John's Cathedral and the former St Stephen's Church, remains of its foundations are visible in the adjacent archaeological park.

Built in the Merovingian period, it replaces a probable reception room with a heating system dating from late antiquity. In the 9th century Bishop Leidrade reconstructed the cathedral group but did not mention the church of St. Croix whose name appeared only at the end of the 11th century. Rebuilt in the Carolingian era, it then has the shape of a large church (19 meters wide) with three naves and closed by a semicircular apse. On the same hold, the church was rebuilt at the end of the 11th century and between 1444 and 1452. The 11th century Romanesque church reused Carolingian structures and was still carpented with the exception of the vaulted apse and reinforced by foothills. It serves as a parish church throughout the Middle Ages and is partially demolished in the 19th century, the nave being embedded in a building...