The flag of Maastricht is the official flag of Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

, the capital city of the province of Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

 in the Netherlands. It constitutes a red vertical surface with a five-pointed star on its left side (a star that is common amongst many flags e.g., the flag of Chile

Flag of Chile

The national flag of Chile, consists of two unequal horizontal bands of white and red and a blue square the same height as the white band in the canton, which bears a white five-pointed star in the center. It was adopted on October 18, 1817...

). It had been an historical flag, with its first image of appearance dating from 1545, of the municipality but was replaced with a flag identical in design to, amongst others, the current Polish flag

Flag of Poland

The flag of Poland consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colors are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colors. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white stripe is legally reserved...

 in 1938. To avoid confusion, the old flag was reinstated in 1994.

History

In 1438 the flag of Maastricht is described as being as a six-pointed star on a red field, with the first historic image dating from 1545. The mentioned image was published in the Wappenbuch von Meister IK-book in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. However, in 1549, the flag is stated as being "yellow-white-red". In 1647, the white-star-on-red design had apparently returned when the Peace of Münster

Peace of Münster

The Peace of Münster was a treaty between the Dutch Republic and Spain signed in 1648. It was a landmark treaty for the Dutch republic and one of the key events in Dutch history; with it, the United Netherlands finally became independent from the Spanish Crown...

 treaty was signed. The next known design is the white-red (with the upper part of the flag being white, and the lower part being red) design similar to the Polish flag. In 1993 it was decided by the municipal government to reinstate the first design and the flag was re-inaugurated on January 1, 1994.

Design

The height of the white star on the flag has to measure 3/5 of the entire flagheight and the space above and beneath the star has to be equal. Furthermore, the proportions between the height and the width has to be 2:3. This design designation has been in use since 1994 . The reasons for rechoosing this design were varied. Firstly, there was to be no confusion with flags of other countries, provinces or cities. Secondly, the citizens of Maastricht were argued to feel more united by this design than the 1938-1994 design. Thirdly, the flag complies with the heraldric

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 standards of The Netherlands. Finally, the colours of the Maastrichtian flag are white and vermilion

Vermilion

Vermilion is an opaque orangish red pigment, similar to scarlet. As a naturally occurring mineral pigment, it is known as cinnabar, and was in use around the world before the Common Era began. Most naturally produced vermilion comes from cinnabar mined in China, and vermilion is nowadays commonly...

, ones also used in the flag of the Netherlands

Flag of the Netherlands

The flag of the Netherlands is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. Since 1937, the flag has officially been the national flag of the Netherlands and of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.-Description:...

.

Symbolism and misconceptions

• First and current design (1545-1549, 1647-? (1938), 1994-): this flag does not bear any symbolism towards communism
  Communism
  Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
  
  , a political ideology known for using many red symbolism e.g. the red flag
  Red flag
  In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism, or Communism, or sometimes left-wing politics in general. It has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution. Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its...
  
  .
• Second design (1938-1994): this flag was easily confused with the Polish flag and similar designs.

External links

• City flag information on the Maastrichtian municipal website Dutch