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Languedoc-Roussillon (Region, France)

Flag of Region Languedoc-Roussillon, two versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2009

Administrative data
Flag of the Region
Square flag of the Region
Former flag of the Region

See also:

Administrative data

Departments: Aude, Gard, Hérault, Lozère, Pyrénées-Orientales
Bordering Regions: Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, Rhône-Alpes
Bordering countries: Andorra, Spain
Traditional provinces: Languedoc, County of Foix, Roussillon

Area: 27,376 km²Population (1995): 2,221,300 inhabitants
Regional prefecture: Montpellier

Flag of the Region

The Regional Council of Languedoc-Roussillon changed the Region's logo and flag in 2004, following the change in the political majority. The flag exists in two versions (according to photos taken by myself on 6 December 2006):
- red with the "seven suns", as hoisted over the building of the Regional Council at Montpellier;
- red with the full logo, that is the "seven suns" flanked by the writing "la Région" (white) / "Languedoc" (yellow) / "Roussillon" (yellow), as hoisted in front Lycée Joffre, managed at Montpellier, by the Regional Council. On this particular flag, the three words are less spaced than on the official logo.

The "seven suns" forms an hexagon. Each sun is made of a red disk, not distinct from the flag background, surrounded by six equally-spaced rays. The central sun shares each of its rays with another sun, while the other suns share three rays with three of their neighbours.
Starting from the top of the hexagon, the colours of the rays, going anti-clockwise from the vertical upper ray, are the following:
- Sun #1 (N): White / Yellow / White (shared with Sun #2) / Yellow (shared with Sun #4) / White (shared with Sun #3) / Yellow;
- Sun #2 (NW): Yellow / White / Yellow / White (shared with Sun #5) / Yellow (shared with Sun #4) / White (shared with Sun #1);
- Sun #3 (NE): Yellow / White (shared with Sun #1) / Yellow (shared with Sun #4) / White (shared with Sun #6) / Yellow / White;
- Sun #4 (central): Yellow (shared with Sun #1) / Yellow (shared with Sun #2) / Yellow (shared with Sun #5) / Yellow (shared with Sun #7) / Yellow (shared with Sun #6) / Yellow (shared with Sun #3);
- Sun #5 (SW): White (shared with Sun #2) / Yellow / White / Yellow / White (shared with Sun #6) / Yellow (shared with Sun #4);
- Sun #6 (S): Yellow (shared with Sun #4) / White (shared with Sun #5) / Yellow / White / Yellow / White (shared with Sun #6);
- Sun #7 (SE): White (shared with Sun #3) / Yellow (shared with Sun #4) / White (shared with Sun #7) / Yellow / White / Yellow.

The "seven suns" alludes to Septimania, the name given to the area in the Roman period. This name, based on sept, "seven", comes either from the 7th Roman Legion whose veterans are said to have settled in the region, or, more probably, from the seven towns of Elne, Agde, Narbonne, Lodève, Béziers, Maguelone and Nîmes.

The first logo of the Region, adopted in June 2004, included the writing "Vivre en Septimanie" (To live in Septimania), as a first step towards a change of the name of the region to "Septimanie" by the controversial President of the Region, Georges Frêche. As an historian, Frêche claimed that the Region, lacking any historical identity (which is true), needed a "main identitary element unifying the Occitan and Catalan components of the Region".

Frêche's proposal of changing the name of the Region caused locally a great fuss; the French Catalans claimed that their specific identity, represented by "Roussillon" would be dropped, while other noted that the Department of Lozère was not part of Septimania. The proposal of change was eventually withdrawn in October 2005. However, the "seven suns" symbol remained, without the "Vivre en Septimanie" motto, as well as the "unification between the Occitan and Catalan components", symbolized by the flags hoisted over the building of the Regional Council at Montpellier, from left to right: European Union, France, Region Languedoc-Roussillon, Occitania and Catalonia.

Ivan Sache, 17 September 2009

Square flag of the Region

Square flag of Region Languedoc-Roussillon - Images by Ivan Sache, 15 October 2010

A square version of the Region's flag (without writing, photo) was used in August 2008 in Brest during the Yachting Youth French Championship.

Ivan Sache, 15 October 2010

Former flag of the Region

Former flag of Region Languedoc-Roussillon - Images by Ivan Sache, 17 September 2009

The former flag of the Region is red with the former Region's logo, showing the Cross of Toulouse; the logo is slightly off-centered to give the flag a better visual balance.

Philippe-Pierre Darras, 21 January 1999