Of course, the château is steeped in ancient history, but the two green spaces in the heart of the urban area also hold memories of more recent times.

Montchat, according to data from the Institut national de l'information géographique et forestière (IGN) and customary practice, is bounded by four virtually straight[notes 1] roads.

It is made up of marly sands and molasse - a Miocene marine transgression - remodeled by the dynamics of Quaternary glaciers, with characteristic mounds known as molards.

Keolis is entrusted by the Syndicat mixte des transports pour le Rhône et l'agglomération lyonnaise (SYTRAL Mobilités) with the operation of the network.

The neighborhood was made up of small plots of a few hundred square meters each, served by a geometric network of narrow streets built from Rue Henri - now Cours Docteur-Long - parallel to the allée du château.

[18] However, "the Monchat district is subject to strong land pressure, with numerous interventions over the past twenty years contributing to its deterioration".

[19][notes 4] On May 28, 2008, on the occasion of Montchat's 150th anniversary, Alain Richard-Vitton, a descendant of the founder, recalled the origins of the district and its street names.

[32][33] In 2012, for the whole of Lyon, the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (Insee), indicated that 2.9% of residents lived in houses and 95.7% in apartments.

Probably to defend a gateway to the city of Lyon, Archbishop Jean Belles-mains had the Béchevelin fortified castle built at the end of the 12th century.

Despite the territorial survey of 1339, commissioned by Humbert II, dauphin of Vienne, and aimed at selling his property,[notes 19] this mandement, located east of the Rhône and therefore in the Dauphiné, remained the subject of a dispute between the Grenoble parliament and the Lyon presidial.

The estate and fortified house then became the property of Gaspard and Jean de Laube, lords of Bron, who in turn transferred it to François Basset on March 19, 1638.

[63] In these parts and at this date, this approach is understood as "a development left largely to the individual initiative of speculative owners concerned only with their local interests".

"In a letter to the Prefect on October 27, 1858, Richard-Vitton proposed to offer [for a fee] "a new outlet for the less well-off class, where they can settle at low cost in the best possible hygienic conditions ".

[66] Following the plan he drew up, which was little altered by the municipal administration, Richard-Vitton ensured the creation of small plots with houses surrounded by a garden.

Arthur Kleinclausz, quoted by Thierry Joliveau, writes "[...] it was specified in many contracts that the land sold would not be used to build factories, but rather workers' houses and villas".

On October 1, 1910[99] the Post and Telegraph Administration decided to open a fully-fledged office on Cours Henri - the mayor of Lyon still sometimes uses the term "agglomeration".

[105] In 1958, to mark the centenary of Montchat, a commemorative plaque was placed on its west wall in tribute to Jean Louis François Richard-Vitton and his role in the urbanization of the district.

So, in 1933, a 1901 association called Les Amis de Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc set up a temporary chapel (blessed on September 30, 1934) at 15, rue Jeanne-d'Arc.

The building, whose "stained-glass windows come from the former chapel of the Jesuit college on rue de Séze",[notes 42] is dominated by a 20-meter octagonal tower.

In 2008, the premises proved no longer suitable and were vacated in favor of the brand-new Centre paroissial de la soie to the east of Lyon.

In February 2002, the Beth Moche (La maison de Moïse) Israelite Cultural Association of Montchat was created to ensure Jewish worship, in a small space at no.

Located on the heights of Montchat, it offers a view of the city, the Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica, and the Monts du Lyonnais.

[notes 47] Originally part of Lyon's countryside, the essential feature of this urban park is its rural aspect, combining meadows and woodland.

[notes 49] Director Bertrand Tavernier, René's son, recalls Aragon: "This is where he wrote Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux, which he dedicated to my mother.

After the war, he remade an original, because, according to my mother, the fact that he had dedicated the poem to her had provoked a domestic scene between him and Elsa Triolet... Is this a legend or the truth?".

The Parc Chambovet association, set up in January 1993, met with the town hall's approval, which in 1994 classified the site as a green zone that could not be built on.

In this capacity, "he distributed leaflets and newspapers, formed sabotage teams, carried out military intelligence by spying on factories manufacturing war material, and provided care to resistance fighters".

In 2003, the building was awarded the "Patrimoine du XXe siècle" (20th-century heritage) label, and as such receives special attention from the architecte des bâtiments de France.

[138] On June 26, 1961, Georges Bazin registered the Ordre du Mérite Monchatois with the prefecture, initially to "reward people who have helped the elders of the Montchat district".

Some are nationally famous, such as Raymond Barre or Louis Pradel, others are of more confidential renown, such as Christiane Sibellin (Miss France 1965), or even of purely Lyonnais reputation, or simply benefactors.