The Order of La Pléiade (; ) is an honorary order of the

Organisation internationale de la Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to ''La Francophonie'', , sometimes also called International Organisation of in English) is an international organization representing where there is a notable affiliation with French language and culture. ...

. It recognizes people who particularly distinguished themselves in the service of its ideals of cooperation and friendship, promoting the role of the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

in their own countries or in the world. It was created in 1976 on initiative of the

Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie The ''Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonies'' (APF) is an association of the parliaments of Francophone countries. History It was established in Luxembourg in 1967, and was then known as the ''Association internationale des parlementaire ...

Origin of the name

In this reverse chronological list, each item intentionally referred to the following (historically preceding) one: # Order of La Pléiade; # La Pléiade, a group of (originally seven)

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define ...

poets; # the Alexandrian Pleiad of seven

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

n poets and tragedians (3rd century B.C.); # the seven main stars of the Pleiades star cluster in the western astronomical tradition, and the

Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...

, seven sisters in the Greek mythology.

Classes

There are five classes (in descending

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

): # ''

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Gran ...

'' (Grand-croix) # ''Grand Officer'' (Grand Officier) # ''Commander'' (

Commandeur Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries, t ...

) # ''Officer'' (Officier) # ''Knight'' (Chevalier)

Insignia

The ''badge'' of the Order of La Pléiade is a seven-pointed star, blue enameled at both sides. The obverseFor "obverse" and "reverse", see:

Obverse and reverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' mean ...

silver central disc features a silver-colored

compass rose A compass rose or compass star, sometimes called a wind rose or rose of the winds, is a polar coordinates, polar diagram displaying the orientation of the cardinal directions (north, east, south, and west) and their points of the compass, inter ...

, surrounded by a blue enamel and silver edged ring with the text "la Pléiade, ordre de la Francophonie", itself surrounded by seven small silver stars. The reverse silver central disc features the Adolphe Bridge in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, where the

was founded, and symbolizes unity. The

ribbon A ribbon or riband is a thin band of material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily as decorative binding and tying. Cloth ribbons are made of natural materials such as silk, cotton, and jute and of synthetic mate ...

sky blue Sky blue refers to a collection of shades comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. Typically it is a shade of cyan or light teal, though some iterations are closer to light Azure (color), azure or light blue. The term (as "sky blew") is atte ...

with small yellow stripes near each border.

Notes and references

Politics awards Awards established in 1976 1976 establishments in France French awards {{ODM-stub