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
Mark Sensen, 22 November 1996
Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
