Le Musée des Confluences - Lyon

What on earth is this?! The front of a massive space vessel during its construction maybe?

Front end of a space vessel under construction

And what about this??!! Could it be that the hand of god has picked up an enormous pile of steel girders and crushed them in his mighty grip before letting them fall to the floor in a tangly mangly heap?

God did this. Naughty boy....

What you are looking at in fact is the construction of the future (and futuristic) Musée des Confluences in Lyon. The museum being built just down the road from where I live, at the point at which Lyon's Rhône and Saône rivers converge before flowing south towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Here's a short video of it from the West side. It reminds me of an aircraft carrier...

...and here it is from the East side.

It is quite a spectacular sight and if you want to know what it will look like when it's finished go here and you will see that it will be a wonderful building. Also, the Musée des Confluences has an informative website with lots of information (in French) about the project, including (as I discovered whilst having a quick look around) the news that the biggest crane on the site is capable of lifting 33 tons, which is the weight of one of the elements to be hoisted and installed.

I can't wait to see the 'finished product', which I'm sure will be beautiful, but I thought I'd post these pix and videos of the edifice as it is now for the record because it crossed my mind that even if they decided to stop work on it tomorrow and leave it as it is it would nevertheless be an engineering masterpiece as well as a work of art. A massive and majestic statue which perfectly illustrates the imaginative capabilities of the human race.