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Maastricht (The Netherlands)

Capital of Limburg province

Mark Sensen, 22 November 1996

See also:

Municipal flag

Maastricht is the capital of the Dutch province of Limburg.
The flag of Maastricht is based on the town's Coat of Arms. From days of old that had a silver star on a red shield. According to a report by the High Council of Nobility the flag is, following the rules of heraldry the same as the COA; in the case of Maastricht a red flag with a white star. The oldest image of a Maastricht town flag dates from 1545 and shows a cornet holding a flag with a six-pointed star. This image has been printed in the "Wappenbuch von Meister IK", (Book of Arms of Master IK), edited in 1545 in Frankfurt am Main. On the occasion of the approaching Peace of Munster the flag was in 1647 described as: red with a white star. Since then the flag continued to be used. Unfortunately after 1917 it was found that it looked too much like the flag of the Soviet Union. That is why from 2 September 1938 till 1994 the official flag of Maastricht became white of red (two parallel equally wide horizontal bars). Since 1 January 1994 the old town flag has been readopted.
According to the description of the High Council of Nobility: "Red with a white five-pointed star, of which the height is 3/5 of the height of the flag. Height and lengt of the flag are related 2 : 3."
The white five-pointed star is placed so high, that the height above the star relates to the height under the star as 9 : 11.
COA with 5-pointed star adopted in 1819, with no explanation given of why one ray was dropped.
Jarig Bakker, 11 May 1999

Historical flag

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net

Flag in use between 2 September 1938 till 1994

Amby [former municipality]

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net

Heer [former municipality]

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net