Guérande (Municipality, Loire-Atlantique, France)

Last modified: 2003-05-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: guerande | loire-atlantique | cross (black) | ermines: 4 (black) |
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by Ivan Sache

Source: Les drapeaux bretons de 1188 à nos jours, by P. Rault [rau98].

• Presentation of the city
• Description of the flag

See also:

• France
• Loire-Atlantique (Department, France)

Presentation of the city

Guérande is a city of c. 10,000 inhabitants, located on the Guérande peninsula, 80 km west of Nantes and 6 km north of La Baule, the most important sea resort in the area.

The name Guérande comes from Breton words gwen and ran, which mean 'white' and 'plot of land', respectively. It seems that white does not refer to salt (see below) but to the sacred characteristic of the place.

Guérande is famous for its salt marshes. The marshes are flooded by sea waters twice a day through two narrow bottlenecks known as the Grand Trait and the Petit Trait. The marshes stretch over 2,000 ha, split into two main basins, and are arranged according to a square pattern delimited by ditches. During the harvest time (June-September), salty water is sent every 15 days through a succession of settling basins locally called cobiers, fares, and adernes. Due to evaporation caused by sun, water progressively turns into a more and more concentrated brine. Salt crystallisation finally occurs in 70 sq. m basins called oeillets (lit. 'small eyes').
Two kinds