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Last modified: 2017-08-09 by ivan sache
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Flag of Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, current and former version - Images by Ivan Sache, 21 March 2017, and Arnaud Leroy, 8 March 2005, respectively
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The municipality of Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (15,994 inhabitants in 2014, therefore the 3rd most ppopulated municipality in the department, 1,349 ha; municipal website) is located north-west of Tours, across river Loire: Tours is located on the southern (left) bank of the river, whereas Saint-Cyr is located on its northern (right) bank.
Saint-Cyr is named after a Christian child martyrized by judge Alexander. Having his dayjob, Alexander was sentencing Christians to death when Cyr, aged five, ran into the court and shouted: "I am a Christian, too!". It took half an hour to the judge to catch the child. Since Cyr did not stop yelling he was a Christian, the fed-up judge smashed the child's head against a wall. St. Cyr's cult spread all over Gaul, and there are more than 40 villages and cities named after him in France.
Saint-Cyr was a small fishers' port, built near a ford lined with stones over the river Loire. Remains of the ford can allegdly be seen when the water of the river is at its lowest. From the 11th century, the parish of Saint-Cyr belonged to the lords of Amboise. Short before 1500, Saint-Cyr was listed among the possessions of the chapter of the wealthy St. Martin's abbey in Tours. The possession included the port of Saint-Cyr and the easement over the river. In summer 1944, Saint-Cyr was severely damaged by Anglo-American bombings targeting the railway viaduct of La Motte. Most houses of the borough Les Maisons Blanches were destroyed, including the old Rooster's Manor.
Saint-Cyr owes its literary fame to three famous French writers, Honoré de Balzac, Anatole France and
Henri Bergson.
Balzac (1799-1850), born in Tours, was
put in the care of a nurse of Saint-Cyr until aged four.
Twenty-seven years later, from June to September 1830, he rented there
the manor called La Grenadière for himself and his mistress, Laure de
Berny. Balzac met Laure in 1821 when he gave lessons to her son. Laure
was 23 years older than Balzac; their outrageous liaison lasted some 12
years. Laure released young Balzac from his oppressing family and
encouraged him to write novels. Balzac portrayed her as
Madame de Mortsauf in Le Lys dans la Vallée. In 1832, it took him only
one night in Angoulême to write the novel La Grenadière, in which he
wrote: Un prince peut faire sa villa de La Grenadière et un poète son logis, deux amants y verront le plus doux refuge. (A prince can use la Grenadière as his villa and a poet can use it as
his home, whereas two lovers shall see it as the sweetest place of
refuge).
Anatole France (1844-1924; Nobel Prize in Literature, 1921)
settled in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire in 1914, where he married in 1920 Emma
Laprévotte and died in his manor, La B&ecute;chellerie. Bitterly criticized
after his death as boring, conformist and official, Anatole France was
once considered as a moral authority and one of the main writers of
the Third Republic.
The philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941; Nobel Prize in Literature,
1927) purchased in 1937 La Gaudinière, a former wine-grower's estate
located close to La Béchellerie.
Ivan Sache, 21 March 2017
The flag of Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (photo) is white with the municipal logo.
The name of the municipality shall be written in Modaerne Regular font. The colours are prescribed as follows (graphical charter):
Dark blue Pantone 287 / CMYK 100 70 0 5 Light blue Pantone 306 / CMYK 75 0 0 10 Green Pantone 361 / CMYK 0 0 100 0
The former flag of Saint-Cyr was white with the former municipal logo, featuring the town's skyline mirrored in river Loire.
Ivan Sache & Dominique Cureau, 21 March 2017
