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Laventie (Municipality, Pas-de-Calais, France)

Flag of Laventie - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 29 December 2020

Presentation of Laventie
Flag of Laventie

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Presentation of Laventie

The municipality of Laventie (5,000 inhabitants in 2018; 1,813 ha; municipal website) is located 20 km west of Lille. Laventie has been known as La Venthie, Leventeis, Leventhis, Le Ventis, Ventiacum, Leventisium and Le Vacquit. Canon Depotter (Le Pays de Lallœus, 1910) claims that the name comes from Gallo-Roman "venta", "a colony", "an establishment". The Latin word "ventus" indeed means "a market", "a sale".

Ivan Sache, 26 January 2021

Flag of Laventie

The flag of Laventie is white with the municipal logo, whichincludes a representation of the municipal arms, "Argent a cherry tree fructed gules on a base vert", with the field azure instead of argent blue.

The cherry tree recalls the short-tailed cherries known as lallœus. Laventie was the capital of Pays de l'Allœus, composed of the four municipalities of Fleurbaix, Sailly, La Gorgue and Laventie, created a county in 1647 by Louis XIV.
The cherries indeed belonged to the Montmorency variety, widely grown in the north of Paris and the source of several varieties worldwide. The tradition says that they were imported to Laventie by the powerful Montmorency lineage, owner of a domain in Fauquissart.
The crown represents Louis XIV, who erected the county of l'Allœus in 1647. It was probably added to the original arms after the First World War, as a tribute to the victims, as were the branches of cherry tree and oak surrounding the shield.

The flower is composed of four petals of different colors and sizes.
Green refers to the natural environment, recalling that Laventie is surrounded by greenness and fields. Green means the youth, beauty and liberty. Green represents freshness and health. The logo uses two shades of green.
Blue is a symbol of perfection. Blue evokes the space, air, water and planet Earth (the blue planet). Blue is strongly connected with dream, wisdom and serenity.
Red refers to the Montmorency cherries. Red is also the color of the town's sports clubs. Red, the most fascinating of the colors, represents courage, ardor and passion. Red is emotional, warm, energizing, penetrating and, to some extent, comforting and wrapping.

The town's skyline puts a strong emphasis on a countryside's town (house surrounded by greenness and trees). From left to right are represented the towers of the town hall, of the St. Vaast church and of the St. Pierre church in Fauquissart, which are majestic visual emblems that can be seen from a distance.
The green semi-circle refers to the prominent role of environment in the municipality.: fields, pastures, tress, parks and flowers...
The circle has been used for ages to symbolize unity. The directing line energetically ascends to the upper right part, highlighting the dynamism of the municipal policy and aspiration to new projects.

The typography used for the word "Laventie" is racy, original and ambitious like the town of Laventie. Two quite opposed fonts are used:
- Depuntozero, for "ville de" and the baseline;
- Jellyka-estrya's handwriting for "Laventie".
In the baseline, the "a" of "naturellement" is substituted by an at sign (@), symbolizing the "Internet Town" award granted to Laventie since 2010.

The color specifications are given as follows.

                  Pantone          CMYK
Dark blue          7462 C        85 25  0 0
Blue                542 C        75 25  0 0
Dark green          363 C        86 23 98 7
Green               584 C        28  2 81 0
Red                 185 C         0 97 74 0
Purple              653 C        80 60  1 0

[Graphic charter]

Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 26 January 2021