Flag of Utrecht

Flag of the municipality of Utrecht (2:3)

The flag of the municipality Utrecht was adopted on 5 July 1990 by the city council of Utrecht as the official municipal flag. However, its history goes back much further. The flag can be described as:

The flag of Utrecht consists of two triangles of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red.

History[]

The history of the flag of Utrecht goes back centuries to the time when the city had its own for defence. The militia is divided into two sections, each with its own triangular pennant. One department has a red pennant and the other a white one. The combination of both pennants makes a square that is divided into two differently colored areas.

On April 27, 1948, the City Council adopted the following flag:

Right bevel of red and white, with Sint Maarten in white.

This flag is almost the same as the standard of the militia, but has a flag ratio of 2:3. The patron saint of the city, , is traditionally depicted in the two-tone city flag. His depiction in the flag consists of the scene in which he on horseback cuts his red cloak in half to give half to a beggar. The scene was or is sometimes presented as the explanation for the coat of arms of Utrecht, but it is suspected that it is based on . In the 16th century, Sint Maarten disappears from the city flag.

According to Flagchart.nl, the drawing of Sint Maarten sharing his cloak on the 1948 flag is an uncolored line drawing. Sierksma draws it in red and white.

Gallery[]

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  Some archers with the banner of the city (1648)
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  Design presented to the city in 1956
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  Variant of the flag circa 1961