Last modified: 2004-10-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: var | cogolin | disc (yellow) | rooster (red) | crown: mural (yellow) |
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![[Flag of Cogolin]](../images/f/fr-83-co.gif)
by Arnaud Leroy
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Cogolin (9,000 inhabitans) is a city located in coastal Provence, at the end of the gulf of Saint-Tropez. The old village was built on a hill standing back from the seashore. More recently, a residential complex (Les Marines de Cogolin) was built around a marina.
The legend says that a small boat, carrying the body of knight Torpes
watched by a rooster and a dog, landed in the end of the gulf of
Saint-Tropez. The rooster flew away and settled in a flax field. The
village built there was named Coq au lin (Rooster "by" flax). What
happened to the dog is not known.
However, the true etymology of Cogolin is the Provencal word
cougouyoun, which means a hill with a rounded top. The ancient village
of Cogolin was indeed built on a hill belonging to the massif of Maures.
Like the neighbouring villages of Gassin and Grimaud, Cogolin was built
a few kilometers away from the seashore, which was then insalubrious
(malaria) and scoured by the Sarracens.
The village was grouped around the St. Sauveur & St. Etienne's church
(with two naves and therefore two patron saints), built in the beginning
of the XIth century and totally revamped in the XVIth century (northern
gate made of serpentine, 1546). The village was protected by walls, from
which only the Clock Tower has been preserved until now. Until 1939, the
Tower had a clock and a bell (1535), now placed in the church.
The first lord of Cogolin was Henri de Cuers, who bought half of the
domain of Cogolin for 3,000 crowns, according to the bill of sale kept
in the Archives of the Deparment of Var. The other co-owner of the
domain was the Order of Malta. Henri's son, Jacques de Cuers, chief of a
naval squad under Louis XIV, succeded his father and bought the castle.
The Sellier family later bought the castle, restored it in the 1960s and
sold it to the municipality in 1982. The castle houses today the
municipal museum.
During the Second World War, general de Lattre de Tassigny set up his headquarters in Cogolin from 17 to 20 August 1944. After the Liberation, Lattre was granted the honour citizenship by the municipality. The other honour citizen in Cogolin is Georges Clémenceau. Lattre noticed that the two honour citizens in Cogolin were born on the same small village in Vendée, Mouilleron-en-Pareds.
Reed is very common on the shore of the gulf of Saint-Tropez. In the
XIXth century, the Florentine Prestini opened in Cogolin a workshop
producing reeds for wind instruments, since he believed that the local
reeds were the best suited for that production. The factory was bought
by Rigotti in 1966 and is one of the few factories of that kind in the world.
Cogolin has also one of the oldest pipe factories in the wrorld, founded
in 1802 by Courrieu and still directed by the same family. The pipes are
made of stocks of heather found in the massif of Maures.
More recently, the seashore of Cogolin was equipped. A residential complex called Les Marines de Cogolin was built around a marina. The main basin of the marina is a small inland sea, linked to the sea by a 85-m long canal and protected from sea storms by a 600-m long pier and a 400-m long conter-pier. 1,600 ships can moor in the marina.
Source: Cogolin tourism information website
Ivan Sache, 19 April 2004
The flag of Cogolin is blue with the municipal emblem in the middle. The emblem is made of the municipal coat of arms, bordered white and surmonted by the name of the municipality in white Capital letters, the whole being placed on another blue shield. The shade of blue used for the shield(s) is lighter than for the flag field. There is a yellow mural crown above the shield.
Arnaud Leroy, 19 April 2004
The coat of arms of Cogolin, as it is shown on the flag is:
Per fess azure a rooster gules within a disc or on a terrace vert argent a tree vert on a terrace marron.
This coat of arms is significantly different from the coat of arms reported in De Bresc's Armorial of Provence:
Parti, au premier, d'azur à un coq contourné, d'or, sur une terrasse de sinople, et au deuxiè:me, d'argent, à une plante de lin de sinople, fleurie de pourpre sur une terrasse de sable. (Armorial Général: Généralité d'Aix, tome I, folio 86 ; blasons, tome II, folio 1147 ; registration fee: 20 pounds).
In English:
Per pale azure a rooster or on a terrace vert argent a flax plant vert flowered purple on a terrace sable.
The coat of arms refers of course to the popular etymology of the village name, as described above. The rooster is considered as the "official" emblem of the village. The municipal museum has an exhibition called "Two centuries with roosters" and the pipes produced by Courrieu are "signed" with a silver rooster.
Ivan Sache, 19 April 2004
![[Gonfanon of Cogolin]](../images/f/fr-83-c1.gif)
by Arnaud Leroy
The gonfanon of Cogolin is similar in design to the flag, but vertical and forked.
Arnaud Leroy, 19 April 2004