Lunéville (Municipality, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France)

Last modified: 2002-11-02 by ivan sache
Keywords: meurthe-et-moselle | luneville | crescents: 3 (white) |
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by Ivan Sache

• Presentation of the city
• Description of the flag

See also:

• France
• Meurthe-et-Moselle (Department, France)

Presentation of the city

Lunéville is a city of ca. 25,000 inhabitants.
The city is famous for table crockery (with a former Royal manufacture) and a XVIIIth century palace closely associated to the history of Lorraine. Lorraine was then a rich, independent Duchy. Duke Leopold asked in 1702 the architect Boffrand, whose master had been the famous Mansart, to build a reduced-size replica of the palace of Versailles ('the little Versailles'). Later on, Lunéville was the favorite residence of last Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas Leszczynski (1677-1766). who died in the palace on 23 February 1766. Stanislas was the father-in-law of King of France Louis XV and had to abandon the throne of Poland after the Succession War (1733-1738). In the same time, Duke of Lorraine François III exchanged his Duchy for the Duchy of Tuscany. Louis XV took the opportunity to install Stanislas on the throne of Lorraine, in order to prepare the rattachement of Lorraine to France, which occurred at the death of Stanislas. Anyway, Stanislas was beloved in Lorraine and nicknamed 'the Munificent' because he protected the arts and embellished the cities of the duchy (including the famous place Stanislas in Nancy).
In 1801, France and Austria signed in Lunéville a treaty confirming the treaty of Campoformio and officializing the increased power of France in Italy.

Sources:

• Guide Vert Michelin Lorraine
• Petit Larousse Illustré

Ivan Sache, 25 April 2000

Description of the flag

The municipal flag of Lunéville has a yellow field with a large blue stripe per bend, charged with three white moon (lune in French) crescents. It is a banner of the municipal arms.

Ivan Sache, 25 April 2000

There is a school in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) which has arms derived from those of the Dukes of Lorraine - and the colours are those of Lunéville. The school is in a suburb called Lorraine, which has street names taken from French towns and cities. One of the streets is Lunéville Avenue.

Mike Oettle, 14 October 2002