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Rillieux-la-Pape (Municipality, Grand Lyon, France)

Last modified: 2025-04-05 by olivier touzeau
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Flags of Rillieux-la-Pape - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025

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Presentation of Rillieux-la-Pape

Rillieux-la-Pape (31,479 inhabitants in 2021; 1,455 ha) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon, in the northern suburbs of Lyon.

The old name of Rillieux is Rilliacum, which evokes a track (from the Latin rilla, meaning a trace, a furrow). Rillieux would thus have been located on a road prior to the Roman roads. The toponym La-Pape does not come from the pope, but from the old Lyonnais word poype or poipe (from the Latin puppia for puppa, cow's udder) which designated a small eminence or a fortified hill.

Substantial remains attest to a human presence, notably at the end of the Bronze Age when a settlement site was established. The oldest historical traces referring to Rillieux-la-Pape date from Charlemagne: the priory is then cited under the name Religiacum in a document of 971 confirming the privileges granted to the abbey ofÎle-Barbe. The priory was entrusted to the Abbey of Île Barbe by King Conrad III of Burgundy in 974 and Pope Lucius III in 1183 In 1235, Humbert II of Montluel sold to the Abbot of Île Barbe Guillaume de Jarez all the rights he had on the parish of Rilleu. The Abbey of Île Barbe having acquired all the territory, a dispute arose
in 1326 between the abbot and the Count of Savoy about the jurisdiction of Rillieu ; a papal legate decided that this right should belong to the Abbey of Île Barbe. The conclusions of this treaty were not respected, however, and the seigneury of Miribel exercised justice over this territory until 1727, when the seigneury of Rillieux was born in the hands of Claude-Paul Javoye. The seigneury passed from hand to hand until Simon-Claude Boulard de Gatellier in 1766, who was also the lord of Cuire.

The commune of Rillieu was established on 1 August 1790, during the Revolution: it was then placed in the department of Ain in 1791 and part of the hamlets that composed it were attributed to the commune of
Caluire. During the War of 1814, the town was occupied by the Austrians until June 9, 1814.

The name of Rilleux-La Pape is associated to on he the dark pages of WWII. The execution of seven Jews in the Rillieux cemetery earned Paul Touvier (a French Nazi collaborator during World War II in Occupied
France) his only conviction for complicity in crimes against humanity; it is also the only crime against humanity retained by the French courts against a French citizen (in 1994).

The commune annexed the hamlet of Vancia, previously attached to Miribel, on January 1, 1968. The commune was formed on December 15, 1972 by the merger of two communes, Rillieux and Crépieux-la-Pape.
These communes were part of Ain until 1967, when communes from Ain and Isère were attached to the Rhône during the creation of the urban community of Greater Lyon. The merger of these two communes was a kind
of step backwards, because Crépieux-la-Pape had originally been only a hamlet of Rillieux, but developed and was detached from it to form a separate commune in 1927. Forty-five years later, the two communes
having continued to develop, they formed only one agglomeration which was reunited.

Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025

Coat-of-arms of Rillieux-la-Pape

The coat of arms is blazoned: Argent a bull Or with a lion head Gules, the chief Azure an eagle Argent flanked by two mullets of the same.
These are the arms of Jean Pillehote, owner of the Château de la Pape in the 17th century, which can be found on the pediment of its portal.

Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025

Flags of Rillieux-la-Pape

Two models of flags, based on the current logo, are in use. The current logo is made of the coat of arms and on the right the name of the commune in capital letters, on a blue background.

Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025

Former flags of Rillieux-la-Pape

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Former flags of Rillieux-la-Pape - left, observed in 2008; right, between ca. 2014 and 2021.
Image by Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025

The former flag, observed in 2008, was bordeaux with the logo in use at the time, made of a reinterpretation of the coat of arms and the name of the commune below: photo, photo.

Between ca. 2014? and 2021, another logo was in use, made of the coat of arms and the name of the commune above. The flag was white with the coat of arms and the name of the commune above: photo (2020), photo
(2020), photo (picture from 2019).
Picture of a white flag with coat of arms (it is impossible after the picture to say if the name of the commune was already on the flag at the time), 2014: photo (3rd picture on the right)

Olivier Touzeau, 20 January 2025