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Origin and history

The Cour des Voraces is a typical Lyon traboule built around 1840 in the Croix-Rousse district. This iconic passage, with its six-storey monumental staircase, connects Place Colbert to the ascent Saint-Sébastien. Symbol of the canous architecture linked to the silk industry, it also embodies the working resistance: its name would come from the Voraces, a group of canuts insurgent during the republican revolts of 1848 and 1849. A commemorative plaque recalls their struggle for dignified living conditions in this "silk work hive".

The court was said to have served as a refuge for the canuts during their insurrections, especially in 1849, and to have housed the mutualistic lodge Devoir mutual, whose deformed name (Devoirants → Voraces) could explain its name. Another hypothesis evokes their fight against the reduction of the pot of wine (portion of stolen silk, sold clandestinely), the volume of which decreased without a fall in prices. These workers, organized in solidarity networks, marked Lyon's social history.

During World War II, traboules such as the Cour des Voraces became strategic places for the Resistance. Their labyrinthic configuration, unknown to German occupants, allowed clandestine networks to escape surveillance. This discreet but crucial role strengthened its status as a Lyon symbol, between worker memory and a resilient legacy.

In 1995, the association Habitat et Humanisme, led by Father Bernard Devert, bought and rehabilitated the court. It becomes a living space, combining social housing and heritage, while preserving the local practice of disembarkation (slip on the stairs, Lyon childish tradition). Ranked a historic monument in 1990 for its floor and stairs, it now embodies the resilience of a neighbourhood and its inhabitants.

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