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

Last modified: 2004-01-17 by ivan sache
Keywords: pas-de-calais | calais | cross: scandinavian (white) |
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by Ivan Sache

• Presentation of the city
• Description of the municipal flag

See also:

• France
• Pas-de-Calais (Department, France)
• Société des Régates de Calais
• Yacht Club de Calais
• Racing Union Football Club de Calais

Presentation of the city

Calais is a city of ca. 80,000 inhabitants (more than 100,000 when including suburbs), located on the Pas-de-Calais (the narrow stripe of sea between France and Britain, a bottleneck between the Channel and the North Sea, 31 km in width x 185 km in length).
Calais is the first seaport of France in numbers of passengers and close to the entrance of the tunnel under Channel.

Calais was seized during the Hundred Years' War by Edward III in 1347 after a long siege. Five bourgeois of the city personally surrendered to the King and asked for the preservation of the city. The event has been popularized by a famous bronze statue by Auguste Rodin. Calais was definitively rattached to France in 1558. The old city heart was totally destroyed during the Second World War.

Ivan Sache, 4 May 2000

Description of the municipal flag

The flag is a white Scandinavian cross on a dark blue field and already appeared on very ancient flag charts.

Ivan Sache, 4 May 2000