Last modified: 2021-06-14 by ivan sache
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Flag of Pornic - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021
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The municipality of Pornic (15,570 inhabitants in 2018; 942 ha) is located 20 km south of Saint-Nazaire. The municipality was established on 1 June 1973 as the merger of the former municipalities of Pornic, Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Le Clion-sur-Mer.
Pornice was already settled in the 5th millennium BC, as evidenced by several megalith, including a very large group of transept-type passage dolmens. During the French Revolution, an important part of the inhabitants of Pornic supported the Republic. On 23 March 1793, the National Guard, made up of
400 men led by the "republican" priest of Clion, left the town to collect wheat. The Whites (royalist troops) took advantage of this to seize the town., which was soon recaptured by the Republicans. On 27 March, the royalist insurgents led by Charette seized the town, looted it and set fire to the houses supposed to shelter Republicans. A month later, Charette evacuated Pornic threatened by General Beysser. In the 19th century, the rise of Pornic as a seaside resort
boosted the inauguration of a railway station in 1875.Since then, many artists have enjoyed staying in Pornic, such as the writers Gustave Flaubert, Paul Léautaud and Julien Gracq. Many painters were also inspired by the town and its surroundings, such as Auguste Renoir, Edgar Maxence and Max Ernst. Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 The flag of Pornic (photo,
photo) is white with the municipal coat of arms. The coat of arms of Pornic, adopted in 2010, was conceived and drawn by Romuald Renaud, vice-president of the Pays de Retz Museum, with the collaboration of the Cultural Institute of Brittany and of the French Heraldry Council. As an heraldic synthesis of the arms of the former municipalities of Pornic, Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Le Clion-sur-Mer, the coat of arms is
"Tierced per pall reversed. 1. Vert a bendlet sinister abased in chief dexter chief the peel tower of Clion all argent. 2. Per fess wavy argent, a. Azure, a Virgin and Child or holding a St. Mary's oculus argent, b. Gules a hedgehog argent, 3. Azure an anchor and a cannon crossed in saltire all or cantonned in chief by a mullet of the same and dexter and sinister by two ermine spots argent. The division debruised by two handshakes adorned or per chevron, and by a pale argent retrait in base, ending in the shape of an escutcheon, in base an inescutcheon or a cross sable surmounted by two ermine spots sable palewise." The words "Ville de Pornic" are written beneath the shield in blue letters. In the dexter quarter representing Le Clion-sur-Mer, the silver bar symbolizes the Haute-Perche canal. The Clion peel tower dates from the 15th century; fires were lit there on moonless nights to guide ships towards the canal. The colors are specified as: The font is prescribed as NevisonCasD. Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 14 May 2021 Brand flag of Pornic - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 In 2017, a white flag charged with Pornic's tourism brand of Pornic was hoisted on the port (photo). Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 Former flag of Pornic - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 Before 2010, Pornic used a white flag with the earlier coat of arms of the municipality and the words "Ville de Pornic" in blue NevisonCasD font below (photo,
photo,
photo). Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 Former flags of Pornic - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 From (most probably) the 1990s to the early 2000s, Pornic used a white flag with another representation of the municipal arms, with the motto above the shield and the words "Ville de Pornic" in black Times New Roman letters beneath it. The coat of arms of Le Clion-sur-Mer, designed in 1946 by Messrs Fleury and Durivault, adopted the same year by the Municipal Council and registered in 1970, was "Vert a bend sinister argent three ermine spots sable cantonned by two peel towers argent." Beneath the shield, on a scroll argent the motto "Semper virens" (Latin, "Evergreen"). Pascal Vagnat & Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 Burgee of the CNP - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 July 2002 The Club Nautique de Pornic (CNP, website) was founded in 1886 as the Société des Régates de Pornic and
refounded in 1947. It has now a membership of 1,300. Ivan Sache, 16 July 2002 Flag of the Comité des Fêtes du Clion - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021 The flag of the Clion Festival Committee (photo) is white with the arms of Le Clion-sur-Mer and the committee's name above the shield. Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2021
In the 9th century, Pornic was part of the county of Herbauges, which
grouped all the parishes and villages of Lower Poitou
in the fight against Viking invasions. The Treaty of Angers, signed in 851 by king of Brittany Erispoë and king of France Charles the Bald, allowed the Bretons to incorporate Pays de Rennes, Pays de Nantes and Pays de Retz.
In the 10th century, Duke of Brittany Alan Barbe-Torte erected a
fortress in the Pornic valley to protect the to
During the Second World War, RMS Lancastria was sunk on 17 June 1940
by the German air force. Some of the 4,000 to 7,000 dead were buried in the
English cemetery of Pornic. The town was occupied by the Wehrmacht on June
26. Many fortifications were built in Pornic as part of the construction of
the Atlantic Wall. The German occupation continued from August 1944 to 11 May
1945 for the people of Pornic who had not fled or been evacuated, thus
lasting nine months longer than in most of western France. Pornic was
located in a zone of withdrawal of German troops, called the pocket of
Saint-Nazaire, whose effective surrender came three days after the surrender
of Germany.
Flag of Pornic
In the sinister quarter representing Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer, the Virgin and Child is a church tabernacle linked to the St. Mary parish. The hedgehog recalls the monks of the Saint-Philibert abbey who settled the St. Mary priory in Pornic in the 8th century and knew how to defend it. It could also evoke the animal emblem of Louis XII, husband of duchess Ann of Brittany.
In the base quarter representing Pornic, the anchor, the cannon and the star evoke La Belle étoile (The Beautiful Star), the lugger boarded by Commodore Warren in 1800.
The handshakes with sleeves symbolically underline the unity, friendship and fidelity between the three territories as well as their common future.
The ermine spots, featured on the arms of Le Clion-sur-Mer and Sainte-Marie, evoke the plain ermine arms of the duchy of Brittany. In the center are placed the arms of Pays de Retz, which are featured on the arms of La Clion-sur-Mer.
Pantone CMYK RGB
Blue 300 98 50 0 0 0 95 176
Green 364 75 0 92 50 24 91 33
Red 484 0 96 97 0 225 17 28
Yellow Process Yellow 0 0 100 0 255 240 0
[Graphic charter]
Brand flag of Pornic
Former flag of Pornic
The earlier coat of arms of Pornic, designed in 1946 by Mr Durivault, is "Azure an anchor and a cannon crossed in saltire all or cantonned in chief by a mullet of the same and in each cantons by an ermine spot argent." Beneath the shield, on a scroll or the motto "Maris stella sit nobis propitia" (Latin, "May the star of the sea be in our favor". "Maris Stella" is one of the many appellations of the Virgin Mary.
[Municipal website]
Earlier flags of Pornic
At the same time was used a white flag with the earlier coat of arms of Pornic in the upper central part of the flag, and smaller drawings of the arms of Sainte-Marie-sur-Mer and Clion-sur-Mer at lower hoist and lower fly, respectively, and the word "Pornic" in black Times New Roman letters beneath the arms of Pornic (photo, subsidiary Town Hall of Sainte-Marie).
The coat of arms of Sainte-Marie, designed in 1946 by Mr Godelaine, was "Per pale, 1. Gules a hedgehog or a chief argent two ermine spots sable, 2. Azure a Virgin and Child Or holding a St. Mary oculus argent on a base wavy argent a chief or a cross sable a bordure gules. Beneath the shield, on a scroll argent, the motto "Ad Jesum per Mariam" (Latin, To Jesus through Mary).
[Municipal website]
Club Nautique de Pornic
The burgee of the CNP is horizontally divided light blue-light green with big "C" and "N" letters placed vertically along the hoist and the word "Pornic" placed horizontally in the middle, all in white.
Comité des Fêtes du Clion