Mur des Canuts

This guide to the Mur des Canuts in Lyon uncovers the story behind Europe's largest trompe l'oeil, a fake street painted onto a blank stone wall in Croix-Rousse by the art students of Cite de Creation in 1987, then quietly repainted in 1997 and 2013 so its residents seem to age in real time. It traces why this corner of the neighborhood was chosen, reaching back to the silk weavers, the canuts, who marched here under a black flag in November 1831 and rose again in 1834. Look for the painted girl on the mural to see just how long this street has been quietly aging.