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Mimizan (Municipality, Landes, France)

Flag of Mimizan - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 22 April 2024

Presentation of Mimizan
Flag of Mimizan
Former flags of Mimizan

See also:

Presentation of Mimizan

Mimizan (7,364 inhabitants in 2021; 11,483 ha) is a commune in the Landes department.

Mimizan is divided between on the one hand a historic center (known as Mimizan-Bourg) set back from the ocean, and which constitutes the administrative and commercial heart of the city, and on the other hand a
seaside resort (known as Mimizan-Plage) which developed with the rise of tourism. Mimizan-Plage is one of the main seaside resorts on the Côte d'Argent. The Mimizan current is a coastal river of about 7 km which originates at the Aureilhan pond and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Its course is fully registered in the municipality. It separates Mimizan-Plage and its 10 km of beach between the “north”, bringing together most of the summer activities, and the “south”, a vast resort area.

In Antiquity, the Cocosates tribe populated the Pays de Born region. Before the 7th century, the sector which would later be occupied by the bell tower of Mimizan was one of the busiest seaports on the Atlantic coast. It is a natural port born from an indentation in the coast serving as a shelter for small boats of the time, in an area where navigation is dangerous due to the rolls of the ocean. It was gradually filled in by the advancing sands and the town's center of gravity had to be moved from the 18th century. Around 1010, monks detached from the Abbey of Saint-Sever settled in Mimizan and founded a priory, which became the center of a “sauveté”, a place of sacred asylum created by the Church for the protection of the weak. The delimitation of this sauveté is materialized by monumental landmarks, between seven and nine according to the sources, in the shape of pyramids. Today, only five remain and are listed as historical monuments and four are still visible. These landmarks foreshadow the limits of the future commune of Mimizan-Bourg. From the Middle Ages, the city became a stage on the coastal route of the way to Saint-Jacques. The size and magnificence of the old church, of which only the bell tower remains, show the importance of the place at that time. The large bell tower, knocked down by a storm in 1790, was visible from the sea and served as a lighthouse or landmark, a coastal landmark to facilitate navigation at sea.
At the request of the village to the State in 1803, the dune cordon was developed by laying planks against which the sands accumulated and which were stabilized by the rooting of beachgrass.

Seaside tourism made its appearance on the Aquitaine coast from the end of the 18th century, particularly in Biarritz and Arcachon. Taking advantage of its geographical location between its two neighbours, Mimizan also planned to open up to seaside tourism but had above all to master the Current, which naturally drifts south. It was therefore on the north side that the very first developments were made, before two dykes flanking the last section of the watercourse were built between 1871 and 1873. Mimizan-les-Bains experienced a boom from the 1880s, reinforced by the arrival of the train (first at Le Bourg in 1889, then at La Plage 18 years later).
On July 10, 1913, Mimizan became the first health resort in the Landes. The Mimizan climate industry chamber is created. Its members, hoteliers, landlords, traders and seasonal workers have the role of developing the resort. The classification of the city as a seaside resort was requested the same year.

Mimizan-Plage served as a rest base for the American army after the United States entered WW I. The soldiers found there the conditions for their recovery after months at the front. Some American soldiers settled in
Mimizan and started a family there. In 1918, the French army built wooden barracks to establish the so-called Senegalese camp at a place called Vigon. This camp was decommissioned in 1920. Families, mainly gemmers, bought it in 1925. Thus was born the district of Vigon. The wooden sea bathing establishment was destroyed in 1922 by a violent storm. It was replaced by a hydrotherapy establishment established at the edge of the current and inaugurated on August 5, 1923. On January 9, 1924, a tidal wave demolished the left wing. In the 1930s, the town continued to develop the north side, with the acquisition of land to build the public square and the covered market, which opened in 1931. To meet the strong rental demand with the advent of paid vacation in the inter-war period and then by the leisure business during the Glorious Thirties, the south side developed in turn. As businesses are concentrated in the North, the South remains essentially residential. Now gone, the fishermen's quarter was located on the north bank of the current, between the current Notre-Dame des Dunes church and the arenas of Mimizan. A traditional activity, fishing coexisted with emerging tourism before disappearing in the second half of the 20th century.

During the four years of its occupation, from June 28, 1940 to August 24, 1944, Mimizan hosted a Kriegsmarine military camp which served as a training and rest center for the German army. The littoral of the commune also integrates the device of fortification of the coasts of the Atlantic Wall. After May 8, 1945, the former German military camp of the Kriegsmarine in Mimizan served as an internment camp for German prisoners of war, assigned to sensitive demining and clearing operations. In 1947, this same camp was taken over by the Military Training Center of the National Navy, responsible for training commandos to go and fight in the Indochina War. After the departure of the French Navy for Hourtin in 1950, the former military camp was transformed into a campsite.

Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2022

Flag of Mimizan

The current flag is white with the logo adopted in 2022 (photo, 2023).

Olivier Touzeau, 22 April 2024

Former flags of Mimizan

Former flags of Mimizan - left, oberved in 2011 and 2018; right, observed in 2013 - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 10 April 2022

The flag of Mimizan before 2022 was also white with logo. Two logos have been observed in the years 2010.

Main logo: photo (2011), photo (2018), photo from this page (2018), photo (undated).
Secondary logo: photo (2013).

Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2022

Previous flag of Mimizan

Former flag of Mimizan - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2022

A former flag of Mimizan, white with the coat of arms, was observed in a 2011 local festival: photo (2011).
The arms are blazoned: Azure a steeple porch argent flanked by two pines Or stemmed Argent, all on a terrace isolated of the same, the chief Gules a leopard Or. The motto is: Ad silvam et ad mare, crescam (I will grow to the forest and to the sea).

Olivier Touzeau, 14 May 2022