![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-55.gif)
Last modified: 2021-06-27 by ivan sache
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Flag of Meuse - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 24 April 2019
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Code: 55
Region: Grand Est (Lorraine until 2014)
Traditional provinces: Lorraine,
Champagne
Bordering departments: Ardennes,
Marne, Haute-Marne,
Meurthe-et-Moselle,
Vosges
Bordering country: Belgium (Province of
Luxembourg)
Area: 6,216 km2
Population (2019): 189,055 inhabitants
Préfecture: Bar-le-Duc
Sous-préfectures: Commercy, Verdun
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 17 cantons, 499 municipalities.
The department is named after the river Meuse (950 km).
On 1 January 1997, the municipality of Han-devant-Pierrepont was transferred from the department of Meuse to the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
Ivan Sache, 12 April 2019
In 2015, General Councils were renamed to Departmental Councils.
The Departmental Council modernized again its logo and the fonts, inverting
the blue and the green stripes with the words: LE DEPARTEMENT / meuse.
A white, rectangular (2:3) flag with the logo (photos) is hoisted in front of the
Departmental Council.
Olivier Touzeau, 24 April 2019
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-55-cg.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-55-c1.gif)
Flag of the former General Council of Meuse, current and former versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 24 April 2019
The flag used by the General Council in January 2006 (photo) was horizontally divided white-blue-green-white, the three bottom stripes being of equal height. The top stripe is charged with the stylized silhouettes of a church and a river, the blue stripe is charged with "Conseil Général" in white letters. The flag was still used in February (photo) and May (photo) 2011/
Among the different symbols eligible to represent the rich history of
the department, the General Council selected the silhouette of a church
tower, evoking the countryside and the rural society, very present in
Meuse. The color strips evoke the dynamic aspired to by the General Council.
Due to the department's rich history, there was a risk to fall in a
restrictive communication field. Namely, it is difficult to associate
the department only to the First World War [Verdun, Douaumont, Les
Éparges, Vauquois, Saint-Mihiel...], because this legacy is sometimes a
heavy burden. Accordingly, the church tower stereotype evokes the douce
France ["sweet France", a stereotype mentioned in the Chanson de Roland
and popularized in the mid-20th century by the singer Charles Trénet],
which also recalls that the Meuse belongs to the "empty diagonal" [a
wide stripe of land running from the Meuse to the Landes, where
population density is far below the national average]. The General
Council presented the features of the rural society as they are, but in
an attractive manner. The logo evokes a pleasant living environment,
"natural" (by the blue and green colors), but also dynamic (by the quick
strips in bright colors).
[
Lecture des paysages lorrains, Université ouverte des humanités]
A simplified logo came in use in 2007: the red, yellow, grey, blue, and green lineswere replaced by only blue and green lines. The font and wording were modified, from “Conseil général / de la Meuse†to “Meuse / Conseil généralâ€. A rectangular (2:3) flag with a centered logo (photo) was used in front of the General Council in July 2014.
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-55-c2.gif)
Earlier flag of the General Council - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 24 April 2019
The General Council used in 1998 a white flag with the Council's logo of the time.
Pascal Vagnat, Ivan Sache & Olivier Touzeau, 24 April 2019
