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Cergy (Municipality, Val-d'Oise, France)

by Arnaud Leroy

Source: Mairie de Cergy

Presentation of the city
Description of the flag

See also:

Presentation of the city

Cergy is a municipality of ca. 50,000 inhabitants,
Cergy was built around the last loop made by the river Oise before flowing into the Seine.The city is made of three parts:

Cergy-Préfecture, the administrative center, with the préfecture and the General Council;
Cergy-Village, the ancient village;
Cergy-Saint-Christophe, known for the 10-m diameter clock of its railway station and the Axe Majeur ("Main Axis"), an architectural project materializing the axis of the loop of Oise. The Axis starts from the panoramic tower (190 steps), surrounded by a semi-circle of high buildings designed by the Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill. In Cergy-Village, the marina of Port-Cergy was the first river marina built in Ile-de-France. There is also a watersport resort in the Ponds of Cergy-Neuville (250 ha), located on former sand quarries.

Cergy is the main center of the ville nouvelle of Cergy-Pontoise, which includes the municipalities of Pontoise (29,000 inh.), Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône (19,000 inh.), Jouy-le-Moutier (17,000 inh.), Eragny (15,000 inh.), Osny (12,000 inh.), Vauréal (12,000 inh.), Menucourt (5,000 inh.), Courdimanche (4,500 inh.), Neuville-sur-Oise (1,000 inh.), and Puiseux-Pontoise (175 inh.).
A ville nouvelle (new city) is a city created close to an important urban area, in which both economical and residence functions are expected to develop. The basic idea was to develop new harmonious areas where people could both work and live. This would have decreased the traffic problems in dense urban areas and restrict the growth of the crowded traditional cities.
The villes nouvelles created around Paris are Cergy-Pontoise (north-west), Marne-la-Vallée (east), Melun-Senart (south-east), Evry-Ville-Nouvelle (South-East), and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (south-west).

Ivan Sache, 27 August 2002

Description of the flag

On the municipal flag, the blue C (for Cergy) most probably represents the loop of Oise. The urban landscape outlined in black symbolizes the association of traditional buildings (church) and more modern ones (with flat and semi-circular roofs). In France, the church belltower is the symbol of traditional villages, at least in areas where houses are grouped around the church. You might remember the posters of François Mitterrand's electoral campaign in 1981: there was a belltower in the background, supposed to be an element of "the Peaceful Strength" (la Force Tranquille), the campaign motto. The insurance company Groupama also used the green silhouette of a village, associated with the motto Son nom est un village ("Its name is a village").

Ivan Sache, 27 August 2002