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Pays de la Loire (Region, France)

by Philippe-Pierre Darras

Administrative data
Description of the flag
Flag of the Regional Council

See also:

Administrative data

Departments: Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Vendée
Bordering Regions: Basse-Normandie, Bretagne, Centre, Poitou-Charentes
Traditional provinces: Bretagne, Anjou, Poitou, Maine

Area: 32,082 km²Population (1995): 3,139,800 inhabitants
Regional prefecture: Nantes

Description of the flag

The Region Pays de la Loire is a geographical, historical and political patchwork, which includes the Breton county of Nantes (department of Loire-Atlantique), lower Poitou (department of Vendée), and traditional provinces of Maine (departments of Mayenne and Sarthe) and Anjou (department of Maine-et-Loire).
The region includes 1/5th of the historical Breton territory and 1/4th of the Breton population (the rattachement of the department of Loire-Atlantique to the Region Bretagne region is a permanent political and popular revendication in the area).
Only two of the five departements (Loire-Atlantique and Maine-et-Loire) are irrigated by the Loire river.

In 1976, the heraldist Hervé Pinoteau designed the Regional flag, which was hoisted on the building of the General Council in Nantes in October 1986.
The flag is vertically divided. The banner of arms of Maine (d'azur fleurdeliseée d'or, à la bordure de gueules, cantonnée d'un lion d'argent ) is shown at hoist. The Breton plain ermine is shown at fly, with an ondulated border symbolizing the Loire river. In the middle are placed the two interlaced hearts of Vendée. Anjou is not represented but its banner of arms (d'azur à trois fleurs de lys d'or, à la bordure de gueules) is closed to the one of Maine.

Source: Les drapeaux bretons de 1188 à nos jours [rau98]

The banner of arms was drawn on the basis of the insignia of the 33rd Military Territorial Division of the Region Pays de la Loire.

Pascal Vagnat, 29 March 1999

Flag of the Regional Council

by Philippe-Pierre Darras

The logotyped flag shows a stylized map of the region. Blue and green stand for the ocean and the inland. The map pointing west and up should give the impression of dynamism.

Philippe-Pierre Darras, 18 January 1999

The logo was created in 1974 by the Atelier Graphique Hypercut, modernized in 1985 and slightly modified in 1991.
The flags which are flying (1999) in front of the Regional Council of the Pays de la Loire are banners of the arms. The logotyped flag is used inside the building.

Pascal Vagnat, 29 March 1999