Library of Lyon Guillotière
Graffiti street art fresco by Heta at the Bibliothèque de Lyon Guillotière located at 25 rue Bechevelin, 69007 Lyon France.
# The Machecroûte reinvented: Between legend and modernity
This monumental fresco of 500 square meters, created in March 2025 on the walls of the Guillotière, reinterprets the Lyon legend of the Mâchecroûte under a contemporary and multicultural prism. At the corner of two emblematic streets of the neighborhood, the work deploys its visual narrative on two sections of wall that meet, creating a dialogue between intangible heritage and urban identity today.
At the heart of the composition, a huge yellow circle houses an urban anamorphic calligraphy, visible in its entirety only from the terrace of the bar-hotel located in front of the work – a nod to the work of Georges Rousse and an invitation to rediscover the urban space from an unexpected angle.
The Machecroûte dragon, traditionally associated with this medieval legend, has been reinvented in a more contemporary Asian style. Its sinuous silhouette crosses the entire fresco, its head adorning a wall while its tail stretches to the opposite end. This aesthetic choice echoes the Chinese New Year celebrations that animate this multicultural district every year, while being part of a universal visual language, nourished by the influences of manga and tattoo art.
On each wall, a fish from the Rhône (a perch and a carp) are superimposed on the dragon’s body, reminding us that in the legend, the creature sleeps under the bridge of La Guillotière, in the waters of the river that borders the neighborhood. These indigenous fish evoke the particular relationship that Lyon has with its river and local biodiversity.
On each wall, a fish from the Rhône (a perch and a carp) are superimposed on the dragon’s body, reminding us that in the legend, the creature sleeps under the bridge of La Guillotière, in the waters of the river that borders the neighborhood. These indigenous fish evoke the particular relationship that Lyon has with its river and local biodiversity.
Books taking flight punctuate the composition, evoking the library housed in the building and celebrating knowledge as a vector of emancipation. At the extremities of the fresco, urban calligraphy in bubble or flop style adds a resolutely contemporary touch, creating a bridge between the oral tradition of Lyon’s legends and the modern artistic expression of graffiti.
This work, entitled “Tales and legends: La Mâchecroûte and the Guillotière – In search of the Centaurea of Lyon”, is the result of a consultation with the inhabitants of the neighborhood, the users of the library and the socio-actorscultural of the district. She transforms the Mâchecroûte into a guardian of cultural diversity and biodiversity, reinventing this mythical local figure to make it a symbol of the plural identity of the Guillotière district.
The ancestral legend thus becomes a pretext for weaving links between past and present, between diverse cultures and common heritage, between the aquatic and terrestrial worlds, between bookish knowledge and urban expression – a visual metaphor for the multicultural richness that characterizes this historic district of Lyon.
