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Magdeburg City (Germany)

Landeshauptstadt Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt

Last modified: 2018-08-13 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: magdeburg | castle | maiden |
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[City of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)] 3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon, 16 Feb 2001 See also:

Magdeburg City

Magdeburg Flag

Green over red horizontal bicolour with centred arms.
Sources: flag from Günther 1996a and Staack 1997
Stefan Schwoon, 16 Feb 2001

Magdeburg Coat of Arms

The arms of Magdeburg are canting, a virgin or "maiden" (German: Magd) on a city wall (German: Burg). The oldest seal of the city, dating from 1244 already shows a virgin on a wall. In another seal from 1265 the Virgin holds a wreath. Later seals all show the same arms. In the 16th century the arms are quartered with the old arms in the first and fourth quarter. In the second and third quarter a rose is added. The rose has been explained, either as the rose of Neugattersleben or as the Lutheran rose. The city owned the village of Neugattersleben and the rose was the arms of the Lords of Gattersleben in the 14th century. The Lutheran rose should indicate that the city had become Lutheran.
Sources: H. Papendieck: "Die Wappen der Landkreise und kreisfreien Städte des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt", Landesarchiv Magdeburg, 1996 found in Ralf Hartemink's webpage site).
Santiago Dotor, 3 Dec 2001 and Stefan Schwoon, 16 Feb 2001

I notice that the explanation for the name of the city of Magdeburg simply states that Magd means "maiden". While this is quite true, the Magd intended in the name of the city was most likely the Virgin Mary. However, the arms do not reflect Mary - they probably date from a period when the religious derivation of the name was either forgotten or deliberately obscured.
Mike Oettle, 24 June 2002

The arms were officially granted in 1938.
Santiago Dotor, 3 Dec 2001

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