INTRODUCTION TO LYON GALLERY

Roman ruins share a hill above the city of Lyon with the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, but the heart of Lyon lies between the Rhone and Saone Rivers, with their numerous bridges, to the Confluence Museum. Cobblestone streets, elaborate building edifices, and partially revealed large stone walls and arches next to ultra-modern trams. Still, Lyon's fame rests mostly for its food, Chef Paul Bocuse and its bouchons.

Lyon is less cheerfully known as the place where Nazi Klaus Barbie, "the Butcher of Lyon," honed his skills as a torturer before the Americans surreptitiously carted him off to Bolivia to use his expertise against Bolivian communists. Decades later he was brought back to France and tried for his war crimes, but his defense counsel called out the hypocrisy of the French who had committed similar crimes in their colonial possessions such as Vietnam and Algeria.