LORRAINE INFORMATION
LORRAINE Topography
The Region of Lorraine is located in the north-east of France. It borders Alsace to its east, and Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg to its north. It comprises the departments of Meurthe-et-Moselle, Meuse, Moselle and Vosges. Metz is the region’s capital.
LORRAINE Geography
Lorraine is the only French region to have borders with three other countries: Belgium (Wallonia), Luxembourg, and Germany (Saar, Rhineland-Palatinate). It also borders the French regions of Franche-Comté, Alsace, and Champagne-Ardenne. The location of Lorraine led to it being seen as a strategic asset and as the crossroads of four nations, it had a very important role in European affairs. Many rivers run through Lorraine, including Moselle, Meurthe, and Meuse.
LORRAINE Language & Culture
Most of Lorraine has a clear French identity. For this reason, Bismarck only annexed about a third of today's Lorraine to the German Empire following the Franco-Prussian War. The disputed third, known as Moselle, had a culture not easily classifiable as either French or German, possessing both Romance and Germanic dialects. Like many border regions, Lorraine was a patchwork of ethnicities and dialects, sometimes not even mutually intelligible with either French or German.
Despite the French government's "single language" policy, local Germanic dialects still survive in the northern part of the region. They are known as a whole as Lorraine Franconian in English, francique or platt (lorrain) in French (not to be confused with lorrain, the Romance dialect spoken in the region). These dialects are distinct from the neighbouring Alsatian language, to the south, although the two are often confused. Neither has any form of official recognition. Historically, there are two dialect families spoken in Germanic Lorraine. Both Moselle and Lorraine Franconian are spoken in the region. They are similar to the dialects native to the neighboring west central German dialects spoken in Luxembourg and Germany.
Like most of France's regional languages (such as Breton, the West Flemish dialect of Dutch, Catalan, Provençal and Alsatian), Lorraine and Moselle Franconian German have been largely replaced by French since the advent of mandatory public schooling in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, there are efforts underway to preserve the dialects and many older people still speak them. Recent efforts include the use of bi-lingual signage in parts of German dialect speaking France and language classes for young children.
Cross of LORRAINE
During World War II, the cross was adopted as the official symbol of the Free French Forces (French: Forces Françaises Libres, or FFL) under Charles de Gaulle. The capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine as the symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc (whose symbol it had been), and as an answer to the Swastika.
In his General Order n° 2 of 3 July 1940, vice-admiral Émile Muselier, then chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French for only two days, created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red Cross of Lorraine, and a cockade also featuring the Cross of Lorraine.
De Gaulle is memorialised by a gigantic 43-meter high Cross of Lorraine at his home village of Colombey-les-Deux-Églises.
LORRAINE Climate
Summers are hot humid and sometimes stormy. Winters are cold. Can be foggy because of humidity. The spring frosts are quite common.Some activites you can do in the seasons are water sports sailing and motor boating, also mountain biking. Durning the winter you can cross-country ski.
LORRAINE Demography
The population of Lorraine is 2,295,000. The capital is Metz also the area is 23,547km.
LORRAINE Main cities
Epinal, Metz, Nancy, Verdun
LORRAINE Wine
LORRAINE HOLIDAY RENTALS in Region of FRANCE
MORE THAN 10.000 B&B in all France
MORE THAN 10.000 Gîtes in all France
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