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Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (Municipality, Province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium)

Leeuw-Saint-Pierre

Municipal flag of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, unconfirmed proportions - Images by Ivan Sache, 9 November 2007

Presentation of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
Municipal flag of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw

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Presentation of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw

The municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw (in French, Leeuw-Saint-Pierre; 30,929 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 4,038 ha) is located on the south-western border of the Region of Brussels-Capitale. The municipality of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw is made since 1976 of the former municipalities of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Oudenaken, Sint-Laureins-Berchem, Ruisbroek and Vlezenbeek.

Sint-Pieters-Leeuw formed in the past a domain (Heerlijckheydt van Sinte Peeters Leeuw) ruled from the Coloma castle. Built as a fortress in the XVth century, the castle was later transformed in a cosy residence. On old maps, the castle is called "Hecke" or "Necke", probably after Leenaert Van den Hecke, the son of a magistrate from Brussels, who owned the castle and was buried in the church of Leeuw in 1599. Transferred to different lineages in the early XVIIIth century, the castle was eventually obtained by Karel Vital Alexander de Coloma after his marriage with Baroness Eugenia Roose, owner of the castle, in 1745. She was a descendant of Jan Karel Roose, lord of Miremont, Spy and Calsteren, who had purchased in 1687 the village of Leeuw from the lords of Gaasbeek. Coloma revamped the castle, which has been known since then as the Coloma castle. One generation later, Counf Jan van der Dilft de Borghvliet inherited the castle, which stayed in the same family until the death in 1947 of Countess Antoinette, the widow of Count Albert de Limburg-Stirum.
The Coloma castle, used today as a municipal cultural center, is surrounded by a 15-ha park with a few historic buildings, such as the former vehicles shed (1731) and a gardening pavilion (late XVIIIth century) housing today the Roses' Museum. The Coloma park also shows one of the biggest rose gardens in Europe.

Sources:

Ivan Sache, 9 November 2007

Municipal flag of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw

The municipal flag of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw is vertically divided red-white.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 8 September 1977, confirmed by Royal Decree on 23 May 1978 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 6 September 1978.
The colours of the flag are taken from the municipal arms.
Some sources have reported the flag in 4:5 proportions instead of the usual 2:3 proportions/

Servais shows the municipal arms of Sint-Pieter-Leeuw, granted by (Dutch) Royal Decree on 15 September 1819, as "Argent a lion gules", the lion (in Dutch, leeuw, recalling the name of the town. The oldest known municipal seal, dated 1436 but probably copying much older seals, shows a lion holding St. Peter's key. In 1814, the key was omitted from the grant submitted by the Municipal Council. The origin of the colours of the arms is not known.
On the today's arms of Sint-Pieter-Leeuw a green key is placed on the dexter of the lion; the historical coat of arms was probably restored after the municipal reform of 1976, but the colour of the key was not shown on the flag.

Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 9 November 2007