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Leeuwarden city (The Netherlands)

Leeuwarden municipality, Fryslân province

adopted 1 August 1947

Leeuwarden city
Historical flag c. 1680
Historical flag before 1947
Historical flag c. 1750
Leeuwarden Coat of Arms

See also:

Leeuwarden city

Leeuwarden/Ljouwert (Ljout, locally: Luwarden) is the capital of the Dutch province Friesland/Fryslân. The city of Leeuwarden is the seat of Leeuwarden municipality.
This flag was readopted 1 August 1947 after an image from a flagbook of 1708. Before that the citizens used a flag of two bars of Blue and Yellow. But no less than 21 sources depict for Leeuwarden a flag with a yellow lion; in 16 cases on a green field, in 5 cases on a blue field.
Source: Sierksma, Nederlands Vlaggenboek, 1962.[sie62]
Jarig Bakker, 28 August 1999

Historical flag c. 1680

by Jarig Bakker, 16 Jun 2003

A golden lion, rampant, on a green background.
(Source: Dutch atlas made by Delisle in 1739)
James Dignan, 14 November 1996

Green field with a yellow lion.
This is probably an older BoA, reported since 1680. Older Coats of Arms have a green background.
On Gerard van Keulen's flagchart (c. 1710) the lion is relatively smaller than on Sierksma's image.
Jarig Bakker, 16 Jun 2003

Historical flag before 1947

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

Two horizontal stripes blue over yellow, used before the present flag was officially adopted (>1947)
Jarig Bakker, 16 Jun 2003

Historical flag c. 1750

by Jarig Bakker, 16 Jun 2003

Blue field with a yellow lion.
This flag is a Banner of Arms, and occurs on old flagcharts since 1750.
Leeuwarden's name is said to be derived from "leeuw" = lion.
I've used the Coat of Arms on Ralf Hartemink's site.
Jarig Bakker, 16 Jun 2003

Leeuwarden Coat of Arms

image from Ralf Hartemink's website.

Granted 25 Mar 1818.