Sittard-Geleen (The Netherlands)

Limburg province

Last modified: 2004-02-07 by
Keywords: sittard | geleen |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | | mirrors

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm
 
 

• Sittard-Geleen municipality
• Sittard
• Geleen
• Born
• Munstergeleen

• Limburg
• The Netherlands
• Alphabetical list of Dutch municipalities
• Limburg Province - the municipalities
• The Netherlands - Index of all pages

Sittard-Geleen municipality

Sittard [former municipality]

Sittard with it's 50.000 inhabitants is situated in the heart of Limburg province, the narrowest part of the province, sharing a border with Germany and Belgium being only a few kilometers away. The (former) municipality of Sittard itself is the result of a merger of the former municipalities of Sittard, Limbricht and Munstergeleen (1982) and included the villages of Guttecoven, Einighausen and Windraak. In 1942 the then German municipality of Broeksittard was handed over to Sittard by the German occupiers. In 1157 the name Sittard appears in documents, and is probably derived from the word "de Siter", which is a fertile piece of land between Geleenbeek and de Rode Beek. In 1243 Sittard became a City. In 1677 Sittard was destroyed completely. In 1400 Sittard together with Born and Susteren, was sold to the Duke of Gulik, under who's power it remained until 1794, when the French took over. In 1814 Sittard became part of the "Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden", but this only lasted until 1830. Between 1830 and 1839 is was part of the new state of Belgium, and after that it became a permanent part of the Netherlands.
The CoA was designed in 1982 (at the merger). In gold with a curly cross in sable, in the base gules three chevronny or. The shield is covered with a crown of three leaves or. The base is a reminder of the former municipality of Limbricht.
The flag is described as : Field in yellow with a red Pennon a third of the length of the flag, on the fly a black curly cross, of which the height is 4/5 of the height of the flag.

Geleen [former municipality]

Geleen is c. 20 km north of Maastricht, one of the old mining centers in the region. After the mines were closed the chemical industries of DSM offered employment.
The flag was unofficially used until it was officially adopted in (?), derived from the CoA.
Jarig Bakker, 26 November 1999

Geleen is the result of a merger of 3 villages (Oud-Geleen, Lutterade and Krawinkel), after 1920 these villages started growing in towards each other, and when the State Mine Maurits opened (in 1928) this accelerated. After the State Mine closed, DSM (Dutch State Mines) developed a very large chemical complex here. The municipal borders were adjusted in 1982, so that all DSM property was within the municipal borders.
Franc Van Diest, 25 February 2001

The former SBB (Stikstof Bindings Bedrijf) changed its name to DSM, but existed long before the closure of the mines - it expanded immensely till the end of the 1960's. If the chemical company had been founded after the closure of the mines I wonder where my dad had been working all that time! He laboured in naphta-crackers, phenol- and hydrochloric factories.
After the expansion "talking poles" were put around the factories, which ought to warn the population in the case of a calamity.
C.W.De Meyer-Honneff, 30 Jan 2004

Born [former municipality]

Born is northwest of Sittard on the Maas river. It was built around the castle of the count de Noidans (built 1647-1666), where according to tradition one can find the throne of king Zwentibold or Sanderbout. Zwentibold was the illegal son of Arnulf (c. 850-900), king of Germany, who spent some time in Born before he was elected king of Lorraine (895-900). He died in the battle of Susteren (13-8-900).
The colors of the flag are the Gelderland colors upside-down; Born used to be partly of Gulik, partly of Gelre.
Jarig Bakker, 23 November 1999

Munstergeleen former municipality.

Flagdescription: Two equally wide horizontal stripes of blue and red; on the blue stripe charged with a white sword; on the red stripe with white plyers; and a yellow hoist-triangle with a black snakehead-cross.
This flag was adopted by municipal resolution on 17 Apr 1962. It is derived from the municipal arms; the white sword symbolizes Saint Pancratius, and the white plyers Saint Apollonia. The snakehead-cross is taken from the Sittard CoA.
Source: Sierksma's Nederlands Vlaggenboek [sie62].