Last modified: 2021-04-10 by ivan sache
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Flag of Sélestat - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 9 October 2020
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The municipality of Sélestat (19,360 inhabitants in 2018; 4,440 ha) is located midway of Strasbourg and Mulhouse.
Sélestat was founded in the 8th century as a port on river Ill; the town experienced a long period of prosperity thanks to wine trade in wine and a thriving religious and cultural life.
In 1217, Sélestat was granted the status of Free Imperial Town by Frederick II and started the construction of fortifications. In 1354, the town joined the Decapolis, an alliance formed the same year by 10 Imperial town of the Holy Roman Empire in Alsace which aimed to maintain their rights. At the end of the Middle Ages, Sélestat ranked amongst the largest towns in Alsace with a population estimated from 5,000 to 6,000 inhabitants.
Sélestat gradually declined after the Reformation and the French conquest in the 17th century. The town eventually experienced a new demographic growth in the second half of the 20th century when it became a small industrial and cultural centre.
Olivier Touzeau, 9 October 2020
The flag of Sélestat (photo, photo) is a banner of the municipal arms, "Argent, a crowned lion gules", with the name of the town in black letters beneath the lion.
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The crown lion has been featured on different seals used by the town since 1300, kept in the Colmar Municipal Archives (greater seals, privy seals). The crowned lion was used on official stamps and paper, in different representations, until superseded in the 1990s by logos.
[Sceau des villes, 12 April 2011]
Olivier Touzeau & Ivan Sache, 10 October 2020