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Ghent (Municipality, Province of East Flanders, Belgium)

Gent - Gand

Municipal flag of Ghent - Image by Mark Sensen, 10 May 1999, after an official image communicated by Jan de Baets [Voorlichtingsdienst Stad Gent - Information Service of the City of Ghent)]

Municipal flag of Ghent
Former flags of Ghent
Ghent Weavers' Guild (XIVth century)
The Maid of Ghent banner (XVth century)
State University of Ghent (Rijksuniversiteit Gent)
Ghent: Watersports clubs

See also:

Municipal flag of Ghent

The flag of Ghent was adopted on 9 October 1990 by Decree of the Flemish Minister of Culture, after the approval by the Flemish Heraldic Counci. The picture in the Decree is different from the image shown above, so it might be that the municipal authorities have redrawn the flag so that it would be nicer.

Pascal Vagnat, 10 May 1999

Former flags of Ghent

Former municipal flags of Ghent, c. 1900 - Images by Ivan Sache, 12 June 2005

Nouveau Larousse Illustré, Dictionnaire Universel Encyclopédique (7 volumes, published in Paris, 1898-1904) shows the flags of the main Belgian cities, then based on the traditional colours of the cities.
Two flags are shown for Ghent, the first horizontally divided black and white and the second vertically divided black and white.

Jan Martens & Ivan Sache, 12 June 2005

Ghent Weavers' Guild (XIVth century)

Flag of the Ghent Weavers' Guild - Image by Filip Van Laenen, 29 January 1997

A XIVth-century drawing shows a flag with the lion of Flanders, the lion of Ghent and a third lion flanked by two golden netting needles. The lion is blue, on a red field, with golden tongue and claws. This flag probably belonged to the Ghent Weavers' Guild.

Filip Van Laenen, 29 January 1997

The Maid of Ghent banner (XVth century)

The Maid of Ghent banner - Photography taken in 1914 (unknown photographer)

The Maid of Ghent banner, painted by Agnes van den Bossche around 1483, is preserved in the Bijloke Museum. This woman painter was admitted into the Ghent painters' guild in 1468 or 1469. The town records for 1481-82 mention her work on a banner depicting the Maid of Ghent (in French, la Pucelle de Gand).
On a green field, at right (near the hoist), the Maid of Ghent stands quietly on a ground, keeping the town's rampant lion in check. At the fly end of the triangular banner, the letter "G" provides another reference to Ghent. The banner, of dimension 100 / 104 cm x 265 / 277 cm, is made of embroidred and painted silk, embroidered and painted.

This kind of representation was very popular, influenced for instance by a poem by Bouden van der Loore, De maghet van Ghend, which symbolically relates the war between the town and the Count of Flanders, culminating in the defeat of Philip van Artevelde in 1382 at the Battle of Westrozebeke. Seemingly alone and undefended, save for the lion, in reality the Maid is assisted by Christ and the most prestigious of saints, and peace is concluded.
There is, for instance, a later representation of the Maid of Ghent on a bell.

Jan Mertens, 6 July 2007

State University of Ghent (Rijksuniversiteit Gent)

Flag of the State University of Ghent - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 January 2006

The flag of the State University of Ghent is a vertically divided blue and yellow, as shown by a photography of the campus.
The flag of the University Hospital of Ghent (Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent) has the cypher of the Hospital added on the blue-yellow flag, as shown on the Hospital website.

Jan Mertens & Ivan Sache, 24 March 2007