^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

East Flanders (Province, Belgium)

Oost-Vlaanderen, Flandre Orientale

Flag of the Province of East Flanders - Image by Mark Sensen, 19 April 2001

Official flag of East Flanders
- Rejected proposal
Unofficial banner of arms of East Flanders
Colours of East Flanders
Honorary flag of the Governor of East Flanders

See also:

Official flag of East Flanders

The flag and arms of the Province of East Flanders were imposed on 14 December 1998 by Decree of the Flemish minister of Culture, Family and Welfare, published in the Belgian official gazette on 14 April 1999.
The official description of the flag is (translated from Dutch):

Three stripes with proportions 5:6:5, the upper and lower stripe green, the middle stripe alternate white and green with proportions 1:1:1:1:4:1:1, in the fly a black lion with red nails and tongue.

The Appendix to the Decree has images of the coat of arms and flag.

In the original drawing the lion had three nails at each claw, which was rejected. The original artist refused to change this to four nails, so another artist had to be found to make a new drawing. In this new drawing the lion is less modern than in the original one. Michel Lupant reported that the rejected flag was used unofficially, and that someone had seen a square version of it.

Mark Sensen, 29 May 1999

According to the provincial website, the green colour denotes the growing concern for the environment, whereas the four white lines represent the rivers which cross the province, the thickest line representing the Scheldt (Schelde/Escaut) and the other ones the Leie (Lys), the Dender (Dendre) and the Durme.

Jan Mertens, 18 November 2005

Rejected proposal

Rejected proposal of provincial flag - Image by Jaume Ollé, 19 April 2001

The proposal adopted by the Provincial Council was rejected by the Flemish Heraldic Council on 21 March 1996 because the lion had only three nails to each paw. Normally an heraldic lion has four nails, but this isn't always the case. See for instance the Greater coat of arms of Bavaria where the Palatinate lion has also three nails, the Souabe leopards also, as well as some paws of the supporters.
So: were these three nails the problem for the adoption of this flag (and coat of arms since the lion in the shield of the coat of arms of the province is the same) the true reason for the non official recognition of the emblems by the Flemish authorities? Can we think also that the problem appeared because the drawing of this lion is very stylized contrary to the other heraldical lions in the other provinces?
Anyway, though the flag hasn't been officially recognized, it has been already produced by Flemish flag manufacturers, but ... with a four nail lion, as one can see in the city of Bruges (West-Flanders). According to the Law on the flags of Flemish provinces, if the flag of a province cannot be approved by the Flemish Heraldical Council, this last adopts one for the province.
The flag and the coat of arms of East Flanders were drawn by the heraldist and painter Fernand Broose, who had already drawn the flag and the coat of arms of the Belgian German speaking Community.

Pascal Vagnat, 4 January 1999

Unofficial banner of arms of East Flanders

Unofficial flag of East Flanders - Image by Geraard van der Vaart, 19 April 2001

The traditional banner of arms of Flanders (or a lion sable armed and langued gules) is used as the unofficial flag of East Flanders.

Ivan Sache, 3 February 2007

Colours of East Flanders

Unofficial colours of East Flanders - Images by Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001

The Province of East Flanders used, unofficially, colours taken from the arms. These colours were not fixed.
A chart called Vlaggen der Belgische Provincies - Drapeaux des Provinces Belges (Flags of the Belgian Provinces; not dated, but to judge from the font type used, from the 1920s-1930s) shows a flag horizontally divided black-yellow.
Some Dutch atlases and books about the provinces show another design, published by Rudi Koot in Vexilla Nostra [vxn]#185 (1993) p. 32-33, as horizontally divided yellow-black.

Mark Sensen, 6 February 2001

Honorary flag of the Governor of East Flanders

Honorary flag of the Governor of East Flanders - Image by Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001

The honorary flags of the Province Governors were adopted by Council Order on 28 October 1936. They are shown with construction details on a book (bilingual Dutch and French) containing regulations (for the Navy?). Each flag is a square version of the Belgian national flag with the respective province arms in the center of the black stripe. The flag is 150 x 150 cm, therefore each stripe is 50 cm in width. The shield is 43.5 cm in width and 50 cm in height, excluding 3.75 cm for the point of the shield.

Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001