Le roi soleil

Who’s this looking at me from inside some scaffolding?

It is Louis XIV – the sun king. He normally sits on top of a horse in Place Bellecour but the statue is being renonvated at the moment so I spotted him and his horse at more close quarters.

There is some information about the statue on the hoardings around the site so I learnt that the original statue was built in Paris and brought to Lyon by boat. Then after the French Revolution all royal statues were ordered to be destroyed and Louis XIV in Lyon was melted down and turned into canons.

With the restoration of the monarchy, a new statue was made and that’s the one that is now getting a facelift.

Should look nice when it’s finished.