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Dinard (Municipality, Ille-et-Vilaine, France)

Flag of Dinard - Image by Pascal Vagnat, 3 August 1998

Presentation of Dinard
Flag of Dinard
Former flags of Dinard
Flag controversy in Dinard
Cercle Celtique de Dinard
Yacht Club de Dinard

See also:

Presentation of Dinard

Dinard (10,988 inhabitants) is a famous seaside resort located opposite Saint-Malo, across the river Rance.

Ivan Sache, 11 February 2006

Municipal flag of Dinard

In 1997, the Municipal Council of Dinard decided to adopt a new flag and commissioned the Breton Vexillological Society to submit proposals. The only requirement was an explicit reference to King Arthur, the mythic founder of the city. The final version of the flag was sketched by Philippe Rault and designed by the professional art designer Jakez Derouét. It was presented to the public on 25 May 1998.
The flag has ten horizontal, alternating blue and white stripes. Along the hoist is placed a wide vertical yellow stripe, charged with a standing black bear (in Berlin style). The bear is surmonted by an antique yellow crown.
Blue and white were adopted as the colors of the city in 1989. They refer to the alleged arms of King Arthur (D'azur à trois couronnes d'or: Azure, three crowns or). The horizontal stripes represent the sea and the famous beach tents of Dinard, which are blue and white striped. The number of stripes is meaningless.
Yellow represents the thin sand of the beaches.

The bear is the symbolic representation of King Arthur. King Arthur landed near what is now Dinard in spring 513 to help the Breton King Hoël to repel the Frisian invaders. He built there a fort named Dinarthu, the Bear's fort. In Breton, arth (ancient Breton) or arz (modern Breton) means "bear" and represents the miltary power of royal essence. Dinarthu became Dinarth and later Dinarz, translated to French as Dinart, and finally and erroneously changed to Dinard when the place became popular at the end of the 19th century.

Sources:

P. Rault. L'histoire des drapeaux bretons, 1998 [rau98]
P. Rault, two papers in Ar Banniel [arb], #6, July 1998, giving more details about the creation of the new flag, rejected proposals (especially the first submissions including green color, rejected by the Mayor who said: "Anyway, I don't like green!"), and the evolution of the bear design (finally castrated according to the Mayor's request).

Ivan Sache, 3 August 1998

Former flags of Dinard

Former flags of Dinard - Images by Ivan Sache, 11 September 2006

The flag used in Dinard until 1998 is a banner of the municipal arms, based on the arms of the Priory of Dinard (founded 1324), De sinople à la croix d'hermine (Vert, a cross ermine). A red vertical stripe is added to each quarter and the ermine spots are bicolor (black and white), a unique and unexplained case in Brittany. The flag is heraldically incorrect (colour on colour in the quarters) and suffers from low visibility. It was often replaced with a simpler vertically divided green-red flag.

Source: P. Rault. L'histoire des drapeaux bretons, 1998 [rau98]

Ivan Sache, 3 August 1998

Flag controversy in Dinard

An article by Christelle Guibert posted on the Saint-Malo Ouest-France website (article no longer on line) on 9 August 2005, Patrick Desjardins, the owner of the free newspaper Emeraude Journal sued Marius Mallet, the Mayor of Dinard, because the municipal flag of Dinard hoisted during the International Jumping competition was placed above the French national flag and the flags of the participating countries. Desjardins also complained that the flag of Dinard was twice bigger than the other ones.
The public prosecutor's office (parquet) of Saint-Malo has to decide what to do with the complaint and if the offence of "outrage to the national flag" is relevant in that case. The plaintiff says that if he wins he will give the money to a war veterans' association. It seems that he already has a legal issue with the Mayor.
When the flag of Dinard was adopted, Marie-Paule Chevalier, then President of the Association of the Friends of Dinard and today Municipal Councillor in the opposition group, said that the suppression of the former coat of arms with the ermines on the red and green background was an outrage to the ancient inhabitants of Dinard. She also complained that the new flag had not been discussed during any session of the Municipal Council.

Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 16 October 2005

Cercle celtique de Dinard

Flag of Cercle Celtique de Dinard - Image by Ivan Sache, 3 August 1998

The Cercle Celtique de Dinard (Dinard Celtic Circle) uses a green flag with a white cross charged with 11 black ermine spots.

Source: P. Rault. L'histoire des drapeaux bretons, 1998 [rau98]

Ivan Sache, 3 August 1998

Yacht Club de Dinard

Flag (left, image by Arnaud Leroy) and burgee (right, image by Ivan Sache) of YCD - 25 December 2004

The Yacht-Club de Dinard (YCD) was registered on 5 September 1928.
The flag of YCD is white with two blue rectangle triangles placed near the hoist and a red star placed in the white part.
The burgee of YCD is a triangular version of the flag of the yacht club.

Source: YCD website

Ivan Sache, 25 December 2004