Parc de la Tête d'or

Parc de la Tête d'Or, in Lyon, is a large urban park in France with an area of approximately 117ha. Located in the 6th arrondissement, it features a lake on which boating takes place during the summer months. Due to the relatively small number of other parks in Lyon, it receives a huge number of visitors over summer, and is a frequent destination for joggers and cyclists. In the central part of the park, there is a small zoo, with giraffes, elephants, deer, reptiles, primates, and other animals. There are also sports facilities, such as a velodrome, boules court, mini-golf, horse riding, and a miniature train.HistoryBefore the creation of the parkIn 1530, the lands constituting the current park were the property of the Lambert family, and the location was already named "Parc de la Tête d'Or". In 1662, an archival document referred to the area called Grange Lambert. The name "Tête d'Or" was found from a legend saying that a treasure with a Christ's head could be buried in the park. The area was a flood zone composed of "lônes" (dead backwaters) of the Rhône and "brotteaux" (swamps). It remained like this until the park creation.The project of a parkFrom 1812, an urban park in Lyon was planned. Various locations were being considered, like the Presqu'île or the hill of Fourvière, and then finally, the grounds owned in large part by the Hospices civils de Lyon were chosen. In 1845, the architect Christophe Bonnet proposed, in the purpose of the beautification of the Guillotière quarter, a project of urban park at the current location of the park: "To satisfy the pressing needs of a large population, I turned the lands and brush of the Parc de la Tête-d'Or into a planted wood like the Bois de Boulogne." This idea was also presented by the Senator-Mayor Claude-Marius Vaïsse who wanted to create a park to "give the nature to those who don't have it". In 1856, the land was bought from the Hospices Civils de Lyon. Work on the park began in 1856, under the leadership of Swiss landscape designers Eugene and Denis Bulher and lasted five years. The park was finally opened in 1857, although at the time all the work was not yet completed. It was located in the northern district of Les Brotteaux, along the Rhône. A dam was built to make non-flooded vast lands transformed into a park.