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Var (Department, France)

Last modified: 2022-03-05 by ivan sache
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[Flag]

Flag of Var - Image by Ivan Sache, 16 October 2016


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Administrative data

Code: 83
Region: Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur
Traditional province: Provence
Bordering departments: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Alpes-Maritimes, Bouches-du-Rhône

Area: 5,973 km2
Population (1995): 985,099 inhabitants

Préfecture: Toulon (from 1797 to 1974, Draguignan)
Sous-préfectures: Brignoles, Draguignan
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 43 cantons, 153 communes.

The department is named after river Var (120 km). When the department of Alpes-Maritimes was created in 1860, the arrondissement of Grasse was transferred from Var to Alpes-Maritimes. This is the reason why the river Var does not water the department of Var. A proposal to rename the department after another river, the Argens, has been rejected.

Ivan Sache, 14 November 2009


Flag of Var

The flag of the department (photo) is white with the department's emblem and the writing "LE DÉPARTEMENT", with the "L", the "D" and the final "T" bigger and bolder.
The logo and flag were changed in 2015 when the General Councils were renamed Departmental Councils, following a general trend to make the department's logo more representative of the territory (department) than of the institution (council).

Ivan Sache, 16 October 2016


Banner of arms of Var

[Flag]

Banner of arms of Var - Image by Ivan Sache, 11 April 2018

The banner of the arms proposed in 1950 by Jacques Meurgey de Turpigny and Robert Louis is used on the big traffic circles located at the entrances of the town of Cogolin.
The arms of Var are "Azure chaussé or a fleur-de-lis or surmounted by a label gules".

Var is one of the three departments formed by Provence.
Chaussé has been retained as the shield division to recall the initial of "Var". Or is a symbol of the sun, which favors this beautiful province. Azure charged with a fleur-de-lis and a label recalls the arms granted to Provence by Charles I of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, when he married Beatrix, Countess of Provence.
[J. Meurgey de Turpigny & R. Louis. 1950. Marques symboliques des départements français]

The use of this flag is most probably a local initiative of the Municipal Council of Cogolin, since the Regional Council does not use the banner of arms but other designs to represent the department. This is, however, one of the rare examples of actual use of such a banner of arms.

Ivan Sache, 11 April 2018


Flag of the Departmental Council of Var

[Flag]

Flag of the Departmental Council of Var - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 20 May 2017

The Departmental Council uses a dark blue flag inscribed with the words "Conseil départemental du Var" in the same font as in the logo, and with above a monochrome rendering of the coat of arms, in white.
The flag (photo; image) has two thin vertical stripes in the fly (ratio: ~930:35:35) in the colours of Provence, yellow and red. The blue color of the field and the yellow and red colors of the stripes also make the colors of the departmental coat of arms.

[Arms]

Coat of arms of Var - Image by Tomislav Todorović, modified from Wikimedia Commons, 20 May 2017

The coat of arms of the department is "Azure a fleur-de-lis or, chaussé or, overall a label of three points gules". The arms, which were created by the French herladist Robert Louis, combine the arms of Provence and a symbolic "V" for Var.

Olivier Touzeau & Tomislav Todorović, 20 May 2017


Former General Council of Var

[Flag]

Flag of the former General Council of Var - Image by Ivan Sache, 25 October 2009

The flag of the General Council of Var was white with the logo of the General Council.
The logo of the General Council of Var is made of a rectangular cartouche framed in blue, filled in its left part by a map of the department in orange, the sea being represented in blue and the neighbouring departments in grey-green, and in its right part by the word "VAR" in blue letters. Below the cartouche is the writing "CONSEIL / GÉNÉRAL" in blg black letters.

Ivan Sache, 25 October 2009


Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Var

[Flag]

Former flag of CCI Var - Image by Ivan Sache, 23 November 2009

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) du Var was created in 1833. Divided in five agencies (Brignoles, Draguignan, Hyères, Gulf of Saint-Tropez, Saint-Raphaël-Fréjus), CCI Var manages the international airport of Toulon-Hyères - serving Brest and Paris (France), Bristol and London (United Kingdom), Brussels (Belgium) and Stockholm (Sweden) -, the port of commerce of Toulon and several marinas.

The flag of CCI Var, as seen hoisted in the port of Porquerolles in December 2003, on the island of the same name, is divided blue-red by the ascending diagonal, with the emblem of CCI Var in the middle.
The emblem of CCI Var is the classic CCI hexagon with the blue and red sectors emerging from a white disk decentered to the lower right part of the hexagon, charged with "VAR" in blue letters.
This flag must be obsolete since CCI Var uses now a more modern emblem.

Ivan Sache, 23 November 2009