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Essonne (Department, France)

Flag of Essonne - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 22 January 2023

See also:

Presentation of Essonne

Code: 91
Region: Île-de-France
Traditional provinces: Île-de-France, Orléanais
Bordering departments: Eure-et-Loir, Loiret, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne

Area: 1,804 km²Population (2006): 1 296 130 inhabitants

Préfecture: Évry-Courcouronnes
Sous-préfectures: Étampes, Palaiseau
Subdivisions: 3 arrondissements, 21 cantons, 194 municipalities.

The department is named after river Essonne (90 km), tributary of the Seine.

The Law of 10 July 1964 on the reorganization of the region of Paris, with effect on 1 January 1968, suppressed the departments of Seine and Seine-et-Oise. The department of Essonne was made of 198 municipalities from Seine-et-Oise.
Decree of 21 November 1969 transferred the municipalities of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble to the department of Yvelines. Decree of 30 September 1974 merged the former municipality of Dommerville (Eure-et-Loir) into the municipality of Angerville (Essonne).

Ivan Sache, 15 November 2009

Flag of the Departmental Council of Essonne

On October 14, 2022 the Department of Essonne changed its visual identity. "The new logo is more modern, more elegant and more readable than the previous one." (source: actu.fr).

« The new logo is based on the history of our territory by drawing inspiration from the elements of the coat of arms of Essonne. The radiance of the besant, which evoked innovation, is now taken up in the final and emblematic "e". The "e" thus symbolizes all the challenges that we will take up: Ecology of progress, Education of excellence, Energy of creation, Employment, Essonne as a land of Escape. On the blazon, the wavy band represented the Essonne river. On this new logo, there are 13 rays which evoke the 13 main rivers irrigating the department. The baseline “Terre d’avenirs” (Land of Futures) thus marks continuity with the previous logo, showing that the Department is continuing the process undertaken to strengthen the attractiveness and vitality of the territory. » (source : offical website of Essonne).

Jean-Marc Merklin, 24 October 2022

The flag of the departemental council, hoited in the departemental assembly, has changed between the sessions of september and november 2022.
See the sessions here.
Example of the former flag (picture, video). Current flag, darker blue with the new logo, december 2022 (video).

Olivier Touzeau, 22 January 2023

Former flags of the Departmental Council

Flag of Essonne, current and former versions - Images by Olivier Touzeau, 27 December 2020

The flag of Essonne (photo) before 2022 was composed of the corporate logo of the Departmental Council, which included the corporate motto, "Terre d'avenirs" (Land of opportunities) adopted in 2017. The previous flag of Essonne (photo) was similar, with the logo bordered in white and the motto omitted.
Following the 2015 reform, the logo of the former General Council had been modified with the words "Le Conseil Général" replaced by "Le Département".

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 27 December 2020

Flag of the former General Council of Essonne

Flag of the former General Council of Essonne - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 27 May 2017

The flag of the former General Council of Essonne (photo) was blue with a white lettering "Essonne / LE CONSEIL GÉNÉRAL". The full logo had this text in a light blue trapezoidal shape, but only the text appears on the flag in a field of darker blue.

Ivan Sache & Olivier Touzeau, 27 May 2017

Former versions of the flag

Earlier version of the flag of the former General Council - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 27 May 2017, after the description provided by Pascal Vagnat (2003)

The flag used in 2002-2009 featured the logo of the time.

Earlier version of the flag of the former General Council - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 27 May 2017, after the Cyber-flag website

An even older flag used the previous logo of the General Council, including a tangram, in use at an unknown date before 1999. The logo was modified with another font and another arrangement in 1999, but the tangram was kept in use until 2002.

Olivier Touzeau, 27 May 2017