The second city of France, at the junction of the Rhône and Saône, 250 m. S. of Paris; has a Roman Catholic university, and valuable museum, library, and art collections, many old churches and buildings, and schools of art and industries; the staple industry is silk, weaving, dyeing, and printing; there are also chemical, machinery, and fancy ware manufactures, and it is an emporium of commerce between Central and Southern Europe; of late years Lyons has been a hot-bed of ultra-republicanism.