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Haelen (The Netherlands)

Limburg province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 16 Sep 1991

Haelen municipality
Historical flag
Haelen Coat of Arms

Other Haelen pages:

Horn

See also:

Haelen municipality

Number of inhabitants (1 Jan 2003): 10.106; area: 28,99 km². Settlements: Haelen (seat), Buggenum, Horn, Nunhem.
Haelen is in north Limburg, just north of Roermond. It is a rural municipality with small meandering rivulets and several watermills. on 1 Oct 1942 the municipalities of Haelen, Nunhen en Buggenum merged to form the new municipality of Haelen.
The horns on the flag are derived from the Coat of Arms of the lords of Buggenum, the family Horne. - Buggenum became part of Haelen in 1942.
Jarig Bakker, 29 November 1999

On 1 January 1991 the new municipality of Haelen was formed by the merger of the municipalities of Horn and Haelen. This is reflected in the flag adopted on 22 June 1982, designed by Hans van Heyningen. The upper half represents Horn, which used the old Coat of Arms of the County of Horne. Most of central Limburg west of the river Meuse belonged to this county, and the Count of Horne was also Lord of Weert, and also of Nederweert. The Coat of Arms were canting, and had a golden field with three red horns garnished of silver, placed 2:1. On 3 May 1963 the Municipality of Horn adopted a flag like this.
These horns also represents the former county or its family in other municipal flags, eg. Heel, Heythuysen, Hunsel, Roggel en Neer, and Weert. They also appear in the provincial Coat of Arms/flag of the Belgian province Liege. The three stripes in the lower part stand for the municipalities which merged in 1942 to form Haelen: Haelen, Nunhem and Buggenum.
Sources: Jos Poels, "De Leudal-vlaggen: Horn", in "Rondom het Leudal", nr. 52, december 1988.
Jos Poels, "De vlag van de nieuwe gemeente Haelen", in "Rondom het Leudal", nr. 72, winter 1993.
Jarig Bakker, 2 December 1999

Historical flag

by Jarig Bakker, 10 Apr 2005
Adopted 22 June 1982; design: Hans van Heyningen

Flag of Haelen: Adopted 22 Jun 1982; design: J.F. van Heyningen.
Description: Two stripes yellow-red, with on the separation of hoist and fly (=1/3 flaglength) three connected horns, with the outer curves placed on a virtual circle with a diameter of 4/5 flagheight; the horns on yellow are red; on the red stripe white; the horns placed clockwise, one lying in bottom, the others connected to it.

On 1 Sep 1942 the three municipalities of Buggenum, Haelen and Nunhem were merged to one new municipality: Haelen. The new arms: per fess: i. or three horns gules armed argens; ii) gules a turned lion argent tongued and crowned argent.
The horns represent all three former municipalities, which is why they are the main elements of the flag. By placing it in a circular form the trinity of the municipality is emphasized. The color white was added to refer to the armament of the horns in the municipal arms, and the lion therein. The horns are derived from the former county of Horne, see also Horn.
Source: private communications by Mr. van Heijningen.
Vexilla Nostra 121 (jg. 17) 1982
Jarig Bakker, 10 Apr 2005

Haelen Coat of Arms

image from the Haelen municipal website.

Granted 25 Nov 1991