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Saint-Astier (Municipality, Dordogne, France)

Flags of Saint-Astier - Image byOlivier Touzeau, 16 March 2024

Presentation of Saint-Astier
Flag of Saint-Astier
Former flag of Saint-Astier

See also:

Presentation of Saint-Astier

Saint-Astier (5,530 inhabitants in 2021, 3,425 ha) is a commune in the Dordogne department.

The municipal territory has been inhabited since the Neolithic era and then during the Gallo-Roman period. The city and its name are linked to the story of Asterius, son of a Roman family, born in the 6th century in Puy-de-Pont, near Neuvic. Legend has it that, having become a hermit, he performed many miracles, giving the place a certain reputation. After his death, his tomb attracting devotion, an abbey was built in the 8th century, around which a city was established. On the banks of the Isle river, the small town suffered the full force of the invasions which ravaged Périgord, in particular by the Normans who devastated it in 849. In 980, a church was built. The remains of Saint Astier were transferred there. The church itself will be the subject of successive fortifications, giving it its current massive appearance. Burned, it was rebuilt in the 11th century and underwent several modifications until today. In 1219, Saint-Astier became one of the thirty-four fortified towns of Périgord, protecting itself in particular on the side of the river.

The defining event of the 19th century was the construction of a permanent bridge over the Isle river, replacing the fragile wooden bridges, to which each flood was fatal. The bridge, begun in 1831, was delivered to traffic on October 12, 1832 . Near the river, Saint-Astier was affected by the project which, in 1820, was to make the Isle navigable from Périgueux to Libourne. In the town, three locks and a 1,300 meter diversion channel were established.

During World War II, from the armistice of June 1940, the department of Dordogne was divided into two: the occupied zone to the west and the free zone to the east, in which Saint-Astier was located. Following the Anglo-American landings on November 8, 1942 in Algeria and Morocco, the Germans invaded the free zone on November 11 and settled in Saint-Astier. On August 20, 1944, fighting opposed the resistance fighters to the Germans who, in retaliation, shot twenty-one hostages the same evening, including the parish priest, Father Petithomme-Lafaye at a place called Les Quatre Routes. On the spot, two steles were erected to pay tribute to these victims as well as to the ten resistance fighters who died for France that day. The town was decorated with the 1939-1945 war cross on February 12, 1949.

Olivier Touzeau, 12 March 2022

Flag of Saint-Astier

The flag of Saint-Astier has a plain field with a horizontal variant of the logo. Two versions have been spotted:

white with the logo in full colours - blue and green disk with black writing (photo)
yellow with red logo (photo, photo). According to this last source, with the installation of these yellow and red flags in May 2022, the Saint-Astier bridge has “taken on the colors of the commune of Saint-Astier and of the Occitan cross and has been adorned with yellow and red for the summer.” So this yellow and red variant of the flag has been designed in accordance with the arms of the commune (Gules a bell Or) and with the colours of the flag of Occitania.

The town's traditional motto is "Pito vilo, grand cluchié", meaning in Occitan "Small town, big bell tower". The main element of the logo (and of the former logo) is the Saint-Astier church.

Olivier Touzeau, 16 March 2024

Former flag of Saint-Astier

Former flag of Saint-Astier - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 12 March 2022

The flag of Saint-Astier before 2021 was white with the former logo (photo, 2021; photo, 2018).

Olivier Touzeau, 12 March 2022