RS states in his 2022 France book that the Confluence Museum can be skipped, but the area is worth a visit. A post recently stated that they loved the museum. I read a description and seems quite different. Any visitors out there with feedback? Time is precious when traveling.
Posted by
Sapulpa, OK, USA
6305 posts
In Lyon, right? I haven't been yet, but I'm planning on see it this fall.
We have found that any time Rick calls a museum "skippable," we're sure to enjoy it. Fodor's said the Confluence Museum was delightful, innovative, and exciting (or words to that effect; I returned the book to the library yesterday!)
Take a look at Fodor's or another guidebook; never a bad idea, by the way, to get more than one point of view.
Posted by
big blue marble
427 posts
It's a natural history museum, and a pretty good one at that.
If natural history is not your thing, it's skippable.
If it interests you, it's worth a visit.
I'm not sure the area immediately around the Confluence Museum is worth a visit. It's basically an old industrial brownfields area that, for the past decade or so has been under heavy reconstruction with new buildings housing businesses, apartments, a shopping mall, and similar types of uses. Before then, it was Lyon's equivalent to a red light district.
Posted by
Eugene, Oregon, USA
927 posts
The City Card includes admission to Confluence, and the City Water Taxi, and the tram to the museum. Getting there and back is eazy peazy. Rick does have his opinions on places. I think he is wrong about this one. After a few days of seeing nothing but ancient to late nineteenth century architecture, and all of its adherence to symmetry, and proportion, the Confluence Museum is a refreshing shot of "Ultra Modern." Nothing repeats anywhere in the design. And I started to wonder, "How did they construct this if every part of it is non-repeating?"
As to displays, it is a bit different than most museums. Its more like walking a chronological tour through natural history. Start off with the origin of life, various periods of evolution, and end up with people and science. It doesn't have any world class attractions like the Rosetta Stone. Science nerds will quickly detect that it is focused on creating an educational experience, and not curation. This might be why Rick didn't find it interesting. I did find it interesting due to its method of presentation. Most museums are just a collection of near randomly placed artifacts with no context. This is all context, with very few real artifacts.
Posted by
Sapulpa, OK, USA
6305 posts
Ooooh, Francis, I can't wait! We'll be there in October.
Posted by
30 posts
I visited the Confluence Museum when I was in Lyon and really enjoyed it. Also the Resistance Museum was outstanding. The Miniatures Museum was very entertaining. I had the Lyon Card which also includes transportation. Enjoy!!
Posted by
69 posts
I visited the Musée des confluences several years ago right after it opened. My feeling from that visit - thus possibly out of date - is that it's not so much a natural history museum as an anthropology museum. There were lots of interesting things to look at, but they were poorly labeled. However, I found the building itself to be well worth a visit. It's really intriguing. Similarly, the Fondation Vuitton in Paris.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
331 posts
Not very recently, but maybe recently enough (2019) we spent 3 nights in Lyon and made very good use of the city card. My husband and I loved the Confluence Museum.
We also visited and enjoyed the Resistance, Beaux Art, Textile, Lumiere, Cinema/Miniature, the Puppet Museum and took the very good boat tour.
The setting, building and displays at the Confluence were all very interesting and really well presented. I think what we may have enjoyed the most was how different the Confluence was from the fine art and history museums we’d visited. It was a bit of a museum palette cleanser.