Église Saint-Nizier

This guide to Église Saint-Nizier in Lyon opens in the Place Saint-Nizier with the church's north tower, built between 1450 and 1481 from limestone quarried on the hill of Fourvière. It follows the centuries of war, plague and thin funds that stalled a matching second tower, kept afloat by shopkeepers renting stalls against the church's outer walls, until a nineteenth-century architect named Claude-Anthelme Benoit finally took up the job in a very different style and stone. Stand back in the square and compare the two spires for yourself before the guide tells you what to look for.