Last modified: 2008-04-05 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Heist]](../images/b/be-vanhb.gif)
Municipal flag of Heist-op-den-Berg - Image by Filip van Laenen, 28 September 2001
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The municipality of Heist-op-den-Berg (38,271 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 8,646 ha) is located in the south of the Province of Antwerp, on the border with Brabant. The municipality of Heist-op-den-Berg is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Heist-op-den-Berg (15,825 inh.; 2,893 ha), Booischot (6,234 inh.; 1,159 ha), Hallaar (3,064 inh.; 690 ha), Itegem (5,396 inh.; 1,662 ha), Schriek (4,686 inh.; 1,109 ha) and Wiekevorst.
Heist-op-den-Berg is located on 48-m high mount, as can be guessed from the name of
the town ("op den Berg", lit. "on the mount"). The mount was formed one
million year ago during the last Age of Ice. The mount has always been
the seat of the power in Heist; the current town hall was built in 1844
on the mount, after years of sterile discussion on the place where to
build it were solved by Petrus Vrancx' donation of his estate on the
mount to house the new town hall. Heist, together with Hallaar and
Booischhot, formed a feudal domain called Land ende Veijheid van
Heist.
Booischot became an independent municipality in 1836. The town is split
into two parts, Booischot proper and Pijpelheide, by the Lier-Aarschot railway.
Hallaar once nearly completely belonged to the famous Berthout family.
Itegem, located on the Grote Nete and once a river port, is probably
the oldest component of the municipality of Heist-op-den-Berg, having
already been mentioned in 976.
Schriek, mentioned for the first time in 1125, formed in the XIVth
century with the hamlet of Grotloo the domain of Schriek and Grotloo,
belonging to the Country of Mechelen and therefore to the Duchy of Brabant.
Wiekevorst belonged in the Middle Ages to Herentals and Herenthout. The barn of the Wimplehoeve farm is one of the biggest in Kempen (39 x 12 x 10 m).
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 15 July 2007
The municipal flag of Heist-op-den-Berg is vertically divided
blue-white-green.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 1 July 1980, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 11
December 1980 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 18
February 1981.
The colours are taken from the municipal arms.
As shown on the municipal website, the arms of Heist-op-den-Berg are
"Azure a swan argent on a mount vert". The swan is the emblem of the
town, used on the municipal arms and seal (since 420 years) and in the name of several local associations, such as the
Swaneruiters rowing-club, the local history circle Die Swane, and
of several buildings, such as the arts center Zwaneberg and the ice
rink Die Swane.
In 1606, the writer John Baptist Gramaye, a famous historiographer of
the Low Countries, already described the swan of the coat of arms of
Heist; he claimed to know the origin of the seal but added it was not
worth being mentioned! This origin was probably a legend that Gramaye
did not swallow and did not want to spread thoughtlessly. Fortunately,
the local historian Lodewijk Liekens claims that the swan, a symbol of
purity and innocence would have been chosen as a reaction against the
nickname of telaatkomer, latecomers, granted after the militia of
Heist had arrived too late on an unspecified battle field. There is of
course not the least historical evidence for all of this, but this is a
nice story!
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 15 July 2007
