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La Croix-Rousse is a hill in the town of Lyon, France, as well as the name of a quarter located on this hill (divided into two halves - the pentes, a part of the town's 1st arrondissement, and the plateau, in its 4th arrondissement). It is 254m at its peak. It is near the Place des Terreaux.

The quarter is heavily marked by silk industry (Lyons was the centre of silk manufacture in Europe).

The quarter is called La Croix-Rousse (The russet cross) because of the cross the Christians put there in the 1500s: made in stone from Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or, it was reddish-brown.

In Lyon, La Croix-Rousse is nicknamed la colline qui travaille (the working hill) in contrast to Fourvière known as "the hill that prays".

The district started developing in the 18th century when the silk workshops moved here from the Vieux Lyons area. The canuts (silk workers) were subject to extremely poor working conditions. On account of these conditions, they staged many worker uprisings, known as the Canut revolts. The first revolt, in October 1831 is considered to be one of the very first worker uprisings.

See also

• Canut (silkworkers)
• Canut revolts

Sources

• Domenico Pucciarelli, Le rêve au quotidien, de la ruche ouvrière à la ruche alternative, les expériences collectives de la Croix-Rousse, 1975-1995, Atelier de création libertaire, Lyon, 1996.
• Le Monde, A Lyon, la Croix-Rousse demeure un quartier rebelle, 01/08/2003
• Jean Pelletier : Connaître son arrondissement – le 4ème, éditions lyonnaises d’art et d’histoire, ISBN 2-84147-043-1
• Louis F. Lacroux, La Croix-Rousse en flânant, Éditions Xavier Lejeune
• Bernard Collonges, Le quartier des Capucins - Histoire du bas des pentes de la Croix-Rousse, éditions Aléas, septembre 2004, 115 p., ISBN 2-84307-100-0
• Josette Barre, La colline de la Croix-Rousse, Éditions Lyonnaises d’Art et d’Histoire