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Aalten (The Netherlands)

Gelderland province

Last modified: 2023-03-11 by rob raeside
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Aalten municipality Shipmate Flagchart :  http://www.flagchart.net
adopted 17 October 1961

See also:

Municipal flag

Aalten is a municipality in the 'Achterhoek', the southeastern part of Gelderland, due east of the provincial capital Arnhem.
The flag was adopted 17 October 1961 by the municipal council. The colors were derived from the municipal Coat of Arms; the green stands for the old lime-tree on the village square, which played in olden times an important part in legal proceedings.
Source: Sierksma - Gemeentewapens [sie60] and Nederlands Vlaggenboek [sie62].
On 1 Jan 2005 the municipalities of Aalten and Dinxperlo merged to form the new municipality of Aalten. There is no news about the adoption of a new flag and arms.
Jarig Bakker, 7 September 1999

Our honourable correspondents in Gelderland informed us that on 1 January 2005 the municipality of Aalten had absorbed the municipality of Dinxperlo to form the new municipality of Aalten, adding:
"There is no news about the adoption of a new flag and arms. "

According to "De Gelderlander", 29 September 2008, the Municipal Council of Aalten has adopted a coat of arms and should require a flag from the Higher Council of Nobility (Hoge Raad van Adel), "based on the colours and charges of the new coat of arms". The new flag and arms could be introduced on 1 January 2009.
 http://www.gelderlander.nl/voorpagina/achterhoek/3786269/Na-wapen-en-naam-volgt-vlag.ece

The article recalls that, before the merging, Aalten used a horizontally divided white-green, while Dinxperlo used a horizontally divided yellow-blue flag with the coat of arms in the middle.

The article describes the coat of arms of Dinxperlo (shown but not described on the FOTW website) as:
"A blue field with Lady Justice and a black field with two crossed sword",
therefore "Per fess, 1. Azure a Lady Justice proper, 2. Sable two swords argent crossed per saltire."
A "ding" was the place where justice was administrated.
According to the International Civic Heraldry website, the Higher Council of Nobility suggested to use two shields, one with the German goddess of justice Themis instead of Lady Justice, and the other with the swords, but the municipality prefered to stack all the symbols in ther same shield and to keep Lady Justice. The arms were granted on 28 July 1897 as "Doorsneden : I in lazuur het ten halve lijve uitkomende beeld der Justitia, gelaat, handen en haren van natuurlijke kleur, gekleed in een geschubt pantser van zilver, met een geciseleerde zilveren helm op het hoofd, in de rechterhand een zwaard van zilver met de punt omhoog en in de linker een weegschaal van goud houdende, II in sabel 2 schuinkruiselings geplaatste zwaarden van zilver, elk gedeeltelijk omstrengeld door een strik van natuurlijke kleur met afhangende uiteinden."

The coat of arms of Aalten is shown on the municipal website as a white shield with a green tree standing on a green terrace, which seems to be equivalent to the coat of arms granted on 7 October 1818 and "portraying" a famous local linden tree. However, the International Civic Heraldry website says that the arms were granted on 3 October 1815 as "Van zilver beladen met een groenen boom, staande op een grond van hetzelfde." (Argent a tree vert on a terrace of the same), while older arms already used the linden tree at least since 1795.

Were the flag of Aalten be derived from the coat of arms, the inhabitants of Dinxperlo and other Keupers would probably complain that their identity has been lost in the new flag.
Ivan Sache, 24 Oct 2008

Aalten old flag

[Aalten old flag] image by Jarig Bakker, 23 May 2005
used c. 1939

According to "Wie, Wat, Waar? 1940", an annual published by the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad in Nov. 1939, the flag of Aalten was green over white.
The colors were derived from the municipal arms, which is: argent a tree vert on a base of the same.
It is assumed that this tree is an old linden tree at the junction of the roads Aalten-Zelhem and Aalten-Lichtenvoorde. This tree was replaced in the beginning of the 19th century by a new one, which can still be admired today.
Jarig Bakker, 23 May 2005

Logo flag

[Aalten logo flag] image located by Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

In 2021 (but I think maybe earlier) the flag consisting of the municipal logo modified with additional orange field has been used.
https://twitter.com/gemeente_aalten
Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

Flag with arms

[Aalten flag with arms] image located by Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

In 2022 was officially unveiled a white flag with municipal coat of arms on it
https://www.aaltenvooruit.nl/nieuws/cultuur/421538/wapenvlag-gehesen
Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

Aalten Coat of Arms

[Aalten arms] image located by Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

New coat of arms was adopted in 2010
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wapen_van_Aalten
Valentin Poposki, 24 February 2023

Former Arms

[Aalten Coat of Arms] image by Jarig Bakker, 23 May 2005
Granted 7 Oct 1818

Arms: argent a tree vert on a base of the same.