| Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
|
Medals of the commandeur and officier
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Awarded by  France Minister of Culture
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| Type
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Order of Merit with 3 degrees:
Commandeur (commander)
Officier (officer)
Chevalier (knight)
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| Awarded for
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"Significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance."
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| Status
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Active
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| Statistics
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| Established
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2 May 1957
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| Precedence
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| Next (higher)
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Ordre du Mérite Maritime
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| Next (lower)
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Médaille des Évadés
|
Commandeur
Officier
Chevalier
Ribbon bars of the order
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The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant contributions to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields.
Its origin is found in the Order of Saint-Michel as is mentioned by diverse sources of French Government.[1][2][3]
Background
French government guidelines provide that citizens of France must be at least thirty years old, respect French civil law, and must have, "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance".
Members are not, however, limited to French nationals. Recipients have included numerous foreign luminaries.
Foreign recipients are admitted into the Order, "without condition of age".
The Order has three grades:
- Commandeur (commander) — medallion worn on necklet; up to twenty recipients a year.
- Officier (officer) — medallion worn on ribbon with rosette on left breast; up to sixty recipients a year.
- Chevalier (knight) — medallion worn on ribbon on left breast; up to 200 recipients a year.
The médaille of the Order is an eight-point, green-enameled asterisk, in gilt for commanders and officers, in silver for knights; the obverse central disc has the letters "A" and "L" on a white enamelled background, surrounded by a golden ring emblazoned with the phrase "République Française". The reverse central disc features the head of Marianne on a golden background, surrounded by a golden ring bearing the words "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres". The commander's badge is topped by a gilt twisted ring.
The ribbon of the Order is green with four white stripes.
Members of the order
According to the statutes of the Order, French citizens must wait a minimum of 5 years before they are eligible to be upgraded from Chevalier to Officier, or Officier to Commandeur, and must have displayed additional meritorious deeds than just those which originally made them a Chevalier. However in the statutes there is a clause saying "Les Officiers et les Commandeurs de la Légion d'honneur peuvent être directement promus à un grade équivalent dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres". (Translation: "The officer and commanders of the Legion of Honour are able to be promoted directly to an equivalent grade in the Order of Arts and Letters".) This means that were someone to be made a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters one year, then made an officer of the Legion of Honour the next year, that person can be upgraded to Officier of the Order of Arts and Letters and bypass the five-year rule.
See also
References
|
|---|
| | National Orders |
- Legion of Honour
- Order of Liberation
- National Order of Merit
|
|---|
| | Ministry Orders |
- Order of academic palms
- Ordre du Mérite agricole
- Ordre du Mérite Maritime
- Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
|
|---|
| | Other civilian distinctions |
- Médaille d’honneur pour acte de courage et de dévouement
- Médaille d'honneur de l'Aéronautique
- Médaille d'honneur agricole
- Médaille d'honneur des Chemins de Fer
- Médaille d'honneur départementale et communale
- Médaille d'honneur des Douanes
- Médaille d'honneur des Eaux et Forêts
- Médaille d'honneur de l'Enseignement du 1er degré
- Médaille d'honneur Pénitentiaire
- Médaille d'honneur des personnels civils relevant du ministère de la défense
- Médaille d'honneur de la Police nationale
- Médaille d'honneur des Sapeurs Pompiers
- Médaille d'honneur de Sociétés musicales et Chorales
- Médaille d'honneur de la protection judiciaire de la jeunesse
- Médaille d'honneur du travail
- Médaille d'honneur des Travaux publics
- Insigne des blessés civils
- Médaille de la Famille française
- Médaille de la Jeunesse et des Sports
- Médaille des Mines
- Médaille du Tourisme
- Ordre de Tahiti Nui
|
|---|
| | Military medals |
- Military Medal
- 1914–1918 War Cross
- 1939–1945 War Cross
- War Cross for foreign operational theaters
- Cross for Military Valour
- Médaille de la Gendarmerie nationale
- Médaille de la Résistance
- Médaille des Évadés
- Croix du combattant volontaire 1914–1918 (no living recipient)
- Croix du combattant volontaire 1939–1945
- Croix du combattant volontaire de la Résistance
- Croix du combattant
- Médaille de l'Aéronautique
- Médaille d'Outre-Mer
- Médaille de la Défense nationale
- Médaille des services militaires volontaires
- Medal of the Nation's Recognition
|
|---|
| | Other military distinctions |
- Médaille d'honneur du service de santé des armées
- Insignia for the Military Wounded
|
|---|
| | Commemorative medals | 19th century |
- Saint Helena Medal
- Commemorative medal of the 1859 Italian Campaign
- Commemorative medal of the 1860 China Expedition
- Commemorative medal of the Mexico Expedition
- Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War
- Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal
- Commemorative medal of the Dahomey Expedition
- Madagascar commemorative medal
- Colonial Medal
|
|---|
| 1900–1914 |
- 1901 China expedition commemorative medal
- Morocco commemorative medal (1909)
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| First World War
1914–1918 |
- Médaille Interalliée 1914–1918
- Médaille commémorative de la bataille de Verdun
- Médaille de la Marne
- Médaille commémorative de la bataille de la Somme
- Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1914–1918
- Médaille de la Reconnaissance française
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| Interwar Period
1918–1939 |
- Syria-Cilicia commemorative medal
- Dardanelles campaign medal
- Orient campaign medal
- Médaille de la Fidélité Française
- Médaille des victimes de l'invasion
- Medal for civilian prisoners, hostages and prisoners of the 1914-1918 Great War
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| Second World War
1939–1945 |
- Médaille commémorative de la bataille de la Somme
- Commemorative medal for voluntary service in Free France
- 1943-1944 Italian Campaign medal
- Medal for deportation and internment for acts of resistance
- Deportation and political internment medal
- Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1939–1945
- Medal of a liberated France
- Defaulter's medal
|
|---|
| Since 1945 |
- United Nations operations in Korea commemorative medal
- Indochina Campaign commemorative medal
- Middle East operations commemorative medal (1956)
- Médaille commémorative des opérations de sécurité et de maintien de l'ordre en Afrique du Nord
- North Africa medal
- United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon medal
- French commemorative medal
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|
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| | Extinguished Orders | Ministry Orders |
- Ordre du Mérite combattant
- Ordre du Mérite militaire
- Ordre du Mérite civil
- Ordre du Mérite social
- Ordre du Mérite du Travail
- Ordre du Mérite touristique
- Ordre de l'Économie nationale
- Ordre du Mérite commercial et industriel
- Ordre du Mérite artisanal
- Ordre de la Santé publique
- Ordre du Mérite postal
- Ordre du Mérite sportif
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| Colonial Orders |
- Ordre du Mérite Indochinois
- Ordre du Mérite saharien
- Ordre de l'Étoile Noire
- Ordre de l'Étoile d'Anjouan
- Ordre du Nichan el Anouar
- Ordre du Dragon d'Annam
- Ordre royal du Cambodge
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- This article incorporates information from the revision as of 2010-01-18 of the equivalent article on the français World Heritage Encyclopedia.
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