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Pont-à-Mousson (Municipality, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France)

by Pascal Vagnat

Presentation of the city
Description of the flag

See also:

Presentation of the city

Pont-à-Mousson is a city of 15,000 inhabitants (Mussipontains).

The city was founded in 1250 by Thibaut II, Count of Bar and Mousson. Its name translates as "Bridge-to-Mousson" and refers to the bridge on the river Moselle already mentioned in the IXth century and the hill of Mousson, located 9 km east of the city, on which the Count built a fort.

Pont-à-Mousson became an Imperial City in 1372. In 1572, the first University of Lorraine was founded by the Jesuits in order to fight against the Reformation. In the late XVIIth century, Servais of Lairuetz, Prémontré abbot of Verdun and reformist of this order, founded in Pont-à-Mousson around the church of St. Mary-Major an abbey, whose building started in 1705. The University and the abbey were major centers of the cultural and religious life in Lorraine until 1799, when Lorraine was incorporated to France, where the Jesuites had been suppressed in 1764. The abbey was nearly destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1959. It is now a Lorrain cultural center.

In the XIXth century, heavy industry thrived in Pont-à-Mousson, where smelting works were built. The Société Anonyme des Hauts Fourneaux et Fonderies de Pont-à-Mousson merged in 1970 with Saint-Gobain, and was renamed in 2000 Saint-Gobain PAM. The company is one of the world leaders in ductile cast-iron. PAM products 10,000 km of pipes per year for water conveyance and purification, manholes, grates and faucets.

Ivan Sache, 28 August 2002

Description of the flag

The flag of Pont-à-Mousson is derived from the municipal coat of arms. On the coat of arms, a bridge with three archs links two towers, which might symbolize the two churches of the city located on each side of the river Moselle, showed in the basis of the shield. The escutcheon of the Counts of Bar (with two canting basses, in French bar) placed in chief of the shield, has also been reused on the modern flag. Note that PAM also uses a logo showing a bridge with arches.

Ivan Sache, 28 August 2002