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Lyons is a city in
east central France. The third largest
French city, it is a major centre of business,
situated between Paris and Marseille, and
has a reputation as the French capital
of gastronomy and a significant role in
the history of cinema. Together with its
suburbs and satellite towns, Lyon forms
the second largest metropolitan area in
France after Paris, with 1,648,216 inhabitants
at the 1999 census, and approximately the
20th to 25th largest metropolitan area
of Western Europe.
Sited between the rivers
Rhône and Saône, where European
trade converges, Lyon is an economic locomotive
for the Rhône-Alpes region, just
behind the Ile-de-France region of Paris
as the nation’s most prosperous with
10% of GNP. Its 100,000 students make the
city France’s second biggest university
hub and textiles, logistics, health, biotechnology
spearhead the economy. The Institut Lumière
marks another chapter in the city’s
history: in 1895 Lyons brothers Auguste
and Louis Lumière invented the moving
picture which created the film industry.
The Stade de Gerland
is the principal sporting hub of the city
of Lyon. Situated in the Gerland quarter,
it is presently used by Olympique Lyonnais.
It will host numerous 2007 Rugby World
Cup matches. Work began on the stadium,
designed by Lyon resident Tony Garnier,
in 1913. The construction soon halted because
of World War I. After the war ended, construction
restarted in 1919, with the assistance
of a large number of German POWs. The stadium
was fully functional by 1920. Originally,
the stadium had no sheltered seating areas,
and hence needed to undergo vast amounts
of rebuilding through its history. The
cycling track that ran around the football
pitch had to be sacrificed in 1960 in order
to increase the seating capacity to over
50,000. In 1984, attendances reached 51,680
for certain European Football Championship
matches.
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