In 1870 the Prussian army was moving through eastern France and Lyon expected to be next. The archbishop, Jacques Ginoulhiac, made a public vow: if the city were spared, Lyon would build a church on the hill for the Virgin. The Prussians got as far as Nuits-Saint-Georges and stopped. Two years later the first stone went in, paid for by subscription, and the city spent the next twenty-four years honouring a promise made under panic.