Bielefeld city (Germany)

Kreisfreie Stadt Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2007-12-29 by jarig bakker
Keywords: bielefeld | brackwede |
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• Bielefeld city
• Bielefeld horizontal flag with CoA
• Bielefeld horizontal flag
• Brackwede borough

• County and Municipal Flags (North Rhine-Westphalia / Nordrhein-Westfalen)
• North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)
• Germany

Bielefeld city

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website: Bielefeld probably got city rights in the early 13th century. The oldest seals of the city date from 1231 and 1263. These already showed a gate, which has been also used as the arms ever since. The actual picture of the gate has changed often during the centuries. Sometimes the patron saint St. George is shown above the gate, sometimes the small shield is shown, sometimes not. The small shield is derived from the arms of the Counts of Ravensberg, who owned the town until 1346.
Literature: Stadler 1964-1971.
Santiago Dotor, 18 Dec 2001

Bielefeld horizontal flag with CoA

The flag's ratio is 3:5. It is a red over white horizontal bicolour with the coat of arms in its centre.
Description of coat of arms:
In a golden (=yellow) field is a red wall with brickwork and pinnacles. The wall is topped by two red towers having eight open (=black) windows and four pinnacles each. In an open arc of the wall is a silver (=white) shield with three red chevrons.
Historical notes:
The chevron shield is that one of the counts of Ravensberg, count Hermann of Ravensberg established the city of Bielefeld in 1214 as his new capital with privileges according to the version of Münster/Westphalia. 1293 the base of Bielefeld New Town was founded by count Otto III. and his wife Hadwig. 1520 both cities merged. The image from the coat of arms existed on the cities seals since 1231.
Since 1336 there also existed seals of New Town, showing an image of St.George with lance and shield. There is however nothing known about the existence of a flag. It is known since 1701, that the city used a coat of arms with a black gate with a portcullis and the chevron-shield in a silver field. It was topped (?) by a crown and had two lions as supporters. In the 19th century the tincture of the walls was changed into light grey for some funny reasons. In 1890 the shield was modified again, showing a "stonegrey" gate in a golden shield. The whole was topped by a crown of brickwork. HUPP (Deutsche Ortswappen) and MEYER (Wappenbuch) had published a version with a red gate, which was proposed by ROTH a little bit earlier, because gold besides stonegrey didn t match basic rules of heraldry. This version was used and finally became official in 1939.
The colours red and white in the flag had been used since the shooting-match (German: Schützenfest) of 1831. It was a revival of the Ravensberg colours. The city chose these colours as theirs officialy in 1833. The colours of the old flag, being black and white, had nothing to do with the colours of Prussia, as I claimed here earlier.
According to VEDDELER they were based upon the tinctures of the old coat of arms. This connection had been simply forgotten.
Authorized: 17 July 1978 by Regierungspräsident Detmold
Source: Peter VEDDELER:"Wappen-Siegel-Flaggen, die kommunalen Hoheitszeichen der Kreise, Städte und Gemeinden in Westfalen-Lippe" ; ISBN 3-87023-252-8; p.347.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 19 Nov 2007

Bielefeld horizontal flag

City of Bielefeld (Northrhine-Westphalia)
The flags ratio is 3:5. It is a red over white horizontal bicolour.
The flag was used since the beginning of the 19th century. The city then had the same colours as the Prussian province of Westphalia.
Source: Deutsches Städtebuch, Bd.III 2 Westfalen; Hrsg: STOOB Stuttgart 1954.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 7 Jul 2007

Brackwede borough

Brackwede (City of Bielefeld / North Rhine-Westphalia)
Brackwede had been the "biggest village of Europe" since it gained the title of a city in 1956. In 1970 some other municipalities had been incorporated to Brackwede. In 1974 the city became a district of Bielefeld.
Description of flag:
The ratio of flag is 3:5. It is a red over white over red flag with the coat of arms in its centre. The flag was abolished, when the city became a part of Bielefeld.
Description of coat of arms:
In a silver (=white) shield three trees with silver(=white) stems and green leaves are standing upon the peaks of a red mountain, upon which a silver (=white) wheel with six spokes is superimposed. Above all is a red chevron touching the top edge of the shield.
Meaning:
The chevron was taken from the coat of arms of the counts of Ravensberg, who had been the sovereigns until 1346. Mountain and trees are symbolizing the location beneath the Teutoburger Wald. The wheel is a symbol of trade and industry. The coat of arms was granted in 1950. The Amt Brackwede used the same shield without the wheel since 1936.
Source: Klemens STADLER, images by Max REINHART: "Deutsche Wappen Bd.VII Nordrhein-Westfalen" Bremen 1972; p.29.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 June 2007