Seen from beneath the iron footbridge that crosses the Saône at the foot of Fourvière hill, the church of Saint-Georges reads as the oldest thing in the frame. Buttresses, crockets, an openwork spire, lancets stacked in the tower stage — every signal points backward. It is in fact the newest building in the picture. The quay walls, the tall pastel apartment blocks on the far bank, the medieval and Renaissance fabric of Vieux Lyon a few hundred metres upstream: all of it predates the church.