![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-75.gif)
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-75a.gif)
Last modified: 2019-05-09 by ivan sache
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Flag of Paris, two versions - Images by Arnaud Leroy, 29 October 2009
See also:
Code: 75
Region: Île-de-France
Traditional province:
Île-de-France
Bordering departments:
Hauts-de-Seine,
Seine-Saint-Denis,
Val-de-Marne
Area: 105 km2
Population (2016): 2,190,327 inhabitants
Created in 1790 like most other French departments, the department of Paris was renamed Seine, for the river watering Paris, in 1795. The Law of 10 July 1964 on the reorganization of the region of Paris, with effect on 1 January 1968, suppressed the departments of Seine and Seine-et-Oise. The former department of Seine was split into the departments of Paris (made of the municipality of Paris proper), Hauts-de-Seine (27 municipalities), Seine-Saint-Denis (24 municipalities) and Val-de-Marne (29 municipalities).
Ivan Sache, 14 April 2019
In the Roman era, Paris, known as Lutetia, was the
capital of the Gaul tribe of Parisii. The name of Paris seems
to have appeared in the 3rd century only. The patron saint of the
city is St. Genevieve, who protected the town against the Huns
in 451.
The increase of the town really started with the
Capetian dynasty (987). In the 12th
century, King Philip II Augustus ordered the building of a second wall
around the town; the first halles (market) and the
Notre-Dame cathedral were also built at that time. The University of Paris was founded in 1215 and the building of the Sorbonne started in 1257.
The Parisians always had difficult relationships with the King of
France; popular riots and revolts have been numerous, for instance:
- in 1356-1358, during the Hundred Years'
War, the prévôt des marchands Étienne Marcel (a kind of Mayor) revolted against Dauphin Charles;
- on 24 August 1572, known as the St. Barthélemy's Night, the
Protestants were slaughtered in their houses and the streets of
the town;
- in 1588, King Henry III had to leave Paris under the pressure
of the Ligue led by the nobles who got the support of the
Parisians.
In 1841-1845, a new surrounding wall was built (later destroyed) and in June 1859, 11 neighbouring municipalities were incorporated to Paris. Paris is now divided into arrondissements (districts), whose number was increased in 1860 from 12 to 20.
The today's administrative status of Paris was adopted on 31 December 1975: Paris is a territorial collectivity with both the status of municipality and department. In 1977, Jacques Chirac was elected Mayor and reigned over Paris for nearly 20 years. His successor Jean Tiberi was not able to keep the municipality under the administration of Conservative parties, and the Socialist Bertrand Delanoé succeeded him in 2000.
Ivan Sache, 2 January 2002
The flag of Paris is vertically divided blue-red, with or
without the municipal coat of arms in the middle.
Blue and red are the traditional colours of Paris.
The image shown above was drawn after a document communicated by the municipal administration.
Pascal Vagnat & Arnaud Leroy, 2 January 2002
![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-75-m.gif)
Flag of the Mayor of Paris - Image by Jaume Ollé, 16 March 1998
The flag of the Mayor of Paris, adopted on 20 March 1977, is divided diagonally (per bend)
blue and red. On the obverse, there is the greater coat of arms of
Paris, slightly different of the coat of arms for normal use. The shield is red with a golden ship sailing on blue water charged with a wavy line gold. The chief
is blue with three gold fleurs-de-lis. The border of the shield,
the mural crown and the ribbon, the two branches of oak and laurel, as
well as the three decorations are fimbriated in gold. The Latin motto
FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR appears in white. On the reverse (diagonally
divided per bend sinister) appear the words "VILLE DE PARIS" in
golden letters. The dimensions of the flag are 35 cm x 40 cm and it
has a golden fringe. The flag has a blue and red ribbon, golden
fringed too.
[Lucien Philippe. Emblèmes et pavillons
[eep], No. 9, February 1987]
Pascal Vagnat, 16 March 1998
On 14 June 1940, Captain Lucien Sarniguet, commander of the station
house Dupleix, was forced by the occupying German forces to remove the
French national flag from the top of the Eiffel tower. He swore he
would avenge the affront, which he did during the liberation of Paris
on 25 August 1944.
In the middle of August 1944, the wifes of the firemen of the Dupleix
station house made themselves the flag with six bedsheets stitched
together, two of them being dyed in blue and another two being dyed in
red. On the morning of 25 August, Captain Sarniguet decided to hoist
the flag and asked five volunteers to join him. At noon, the French
national flag was hoisted over Paris after 1,532 days of ban. It must
be stressed that the Germans had not capitulated yet and that the
commando climbed under fire.
On 25 August 2004, a commando of six firemen reenacted the climbing of
the 1,760 steps of the stairs and the hoisting of the flag on the top
of the Eiffel tower. Among the reenactors was Adjudant-Chef Robert
Duriaux, aged 53, whose father Henri, then aged 60, was a member of the
heroic commando of 1944. Henri Duriaux was member of the Paris Fire
Brigade from 1934 to 1963 but never told his family he had been a
member of the commando. He kept for 30 years in his wallet a picture
showing him with the commando, which was inadvertently found by his son
in 1986, a few years before his death. Considering he had done
nothing but carrying on his duty, Duriaux refused to be honored for his
act.
In the 1980s, Robert Duriaux was able to locate all the members of the
commando and published a series of papers on their act. A first
commemoration was organized in 1994. Today, only two members of the
commando are still alive, Sergent Pierre Noël, who attended the 2004
ceremony, and André Taillefer, who could not attend because of health
problems. The Mayor of Paris officially asked Robert Duriaux to present
the Great Silver Medal of the Town of Paris to André Taillefer.
[L'Union de Reims, 26 August 2004]
Ivan Sache, 4 September 2004
