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Occitanie (Region, France)

Flag of Region Occitanie - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 22 September 2017

Administrative data
Flag of Region Occitanie
- Provisional flags
Former Region Languedoc-Roussilon
Former Region Midi-Pyrénées

See also:

Administrative data

Departments: Ariège, Aude, Aveyron, Gard, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Hérault, Lot, Lozère, Hautes-Pyrénées, Pyrénées-Orientales, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne
Bordering Regions: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Bordering countries: Andorra, Spain
Traditional provinces: County of Foix, Guyenne-et-Gascogne, Languedoc, Roussillon

Area: 72,725 km²
Population (1995): 7,425,600 inhabitants
Regional prefecture: Toulouse

Flag of Region Occitanie

The flag of Region Occitanie is red with the logo created in February 2017. The Regional Council flies it with the traditional flags of Languedoc and Roussillon (photo).

Olivier Touzeau, 22 September 2017

Provisional flags

Provisional flags, two versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 22 September 2017

The provisory name of the new Region during the first months was "Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées", and a logo made of the name of the Region was used, in two versions: in a rectangle on two lines, or in a square on four lines. A white flag with the provisional logo (two lines version only) was used (photo).
In June 2016, the name "Occitanie" was adopted, and the logo was modified with the name, with once again two versions: in a rectangle on two lines, or in a square on four lines. A white flag with the provisional logo (four lines version only) was released (photo, photo). The flag was still used in March 2017 (photo).

In front of the Regional Council and inside the building, during the whole year 2016, the usage was to fly together (photo, photo):
- the traditional flag of Languedoc and of the Counts of Toulouse, a strong symbol common to Region Midi-PPyrénées, which used it as its official flag, and to Region Languedoc-Rousillon;
- the flag of Roussillon.
In August 2016, the flag of the former Region Languedoc-Roussillon could still be seen on the roof of the building of the Regional Council with these two flags (photo).

Olivier Touzeau, 22 September 2017

Former Region Languedoc-Roussillon

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

Flag of the former Region Languedoc-Roussillon, three versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 15 October 2010

In Montpellier, three flags were flown in front of the Regional Council (photo):
- the flag of the Regional Council;
- the traditional flag of Languedoc, which is also the traditional flag of the Counts of Toulouse and the flag of the former Region Midi-Pyrénées;
- he traditional flag of Roussillon.

Olivier Touzeau, 23 September 2017

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.
A square version of the flag, without writing (photo, August 2008) is also used.

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, 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 was 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

Former Region Midi-Pyrénées

Administrative data

Departments: Ariège, Aveyron, Haute-Garonne, Gers, Lot, Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne
Bordering Regions: Aquitaine, Auvergne, Languedoc-Rousillon, Limousin
Bordering countries: Andorra, Spain
Traditional provinces: Guyenne and Gascony, Languedoc, County of Foix

Area: 45,349 km²Population (1995): 2,494,200 inhabitants
Regional prefecture: Toulouse

Flag of the Region

Flag of the former Region Midi-Pyrénées - Image by António Martins, 24 December 2017

In Toulouse, the flags flown in front of the Regional Council were the traditional flag of Languedoc and of the Counts of Toulouse, which was the regional flag of Midi-Pyrénées after 1992, the French flag and the EU flag ( photo).

Unofficial flags of the Regional - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 23 September 2017

The official logotypes of the Region between 1992 and 2015 have been reproduced on flags by some flagmakers, but I could not find any evidence of their official use. However, the flags were produced and sold for example to villages or associations (photo, photo).

Olivier Touzeau, 23 September 2017

Former flag of the Region

Former flag of the Regional - Image by Jaume Ollé, 14 April 1998

The first flag of the Region, in use during the 1986-1992 legislature, was blue with eight stars (representing the eight departments in the region) and a small red cross of Toulouse in upper canton.

François-Jean Blanc, 14 April 1998