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Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

Noord Holland, Dutch capital

by Mark Sensen, 14 November 1996

Description, origin and adoption
Historical flags
Resistance flag
Amsterdam Flagpolice
CoA
Zeemanshoop flag

See also:

Description, origin and adoption

Horizontal stripes red-black-red with three 'X's in white in the middle. Proportions 2:3.
Pascal Vagnat, 14 December 1997

The present flag is probably also the oldest design (16^th or 17^th century): a banner-of-the-arms, rotated 90 degrees.
Adopted: 5 February 1975. (Source: [ped80] Pedersen 1980).
Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Historical flags

[Unnoficial flag of Amsterdam before 1975]

by Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Before 1975, unofficially a tricolour red-white-black with the arms on the white stripe was used. Such a flag was already know since the 17th century.
Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

by Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Another variant used in the 17th century had seven horizontal stripes white, red, black, white, black, red, white, with the arms all over. (The arms on both variants could again be in different variants: shield only, shield and crown, shield, crown and supporters; either centered or shifted to the hoist.).
Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

by Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Another early variant was the Dutch tricolour with the saltires in black.
Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Resistance flag

by Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Amsterdam has a special Verzetsvlag ("Resistance flag"): white with the full coat of arms. Such a flag was given in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina on occasion of the addition of the motto to the coat-of-arms 28 May 1947. This motto Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig ("Heroic, Determined, Merciful") was given to the city for the merit during 1940-1945. This flag is used during WWII-commemorations.
Mark Sensen, 08 July 1999

Amsterdam Flagpolice

Yesterday the Stadsdeelraad (cityward) "Centrum" decided that it was time that the Flagpolice should undertake some action. As I've previously reported there are a lot of rags flying about, as well as flags not being taken down after sunset, as well as a lot of minor offenses, so the Flagpolice arrived en masse in front of Grand Hôtel Krasnapolsky on Dam Square (opposite the Royal Palace), where a highworker (that modern apparatus which can nearly lift someone to the moon) sent someone to the roof, where 6 national flags were taken down. They had been flying for ages there, continuously replaced when wheatherconditions etc had taken its toll. The offense: flags are advertisement boards! And 6 advertisement board on one roof is too much.
I suspect the Flagpolice is a novel gadget, and that it just learned what a flag is (an ad-board!) and that rags, like the multi-eu flag is still far beyond its comprehension.
Jarig Bakker, 16 Oct 2003

Amsterdam CoA

International Civic Arms : http://www.ngw.nl/

Zeemanshoop flag

by Jaume Ollé, 27 Apr 2003, after Steenbergen: Vlaggen van alle Natiën, 1862

(See Zeemanscolleges)
Collegie "Zeemanshoop" (College "Seaman's Hope"), established 1822 in Amsterdam. Captain J.H. de Weerd had number 576. Captain Thomas Lange's biography mentions that in 1836 the members of Zeemanshoop were renumbered; could it be that this college originally did not reuse its membership numbers. This college, was still in existence in 1979, and as far as I know, exists to this day (6 December 2001).
Flag: Red with white numbers (on both sides) and a white anchor in the top hoist. All sources show the anchor to lean halfway between hoistwise and flywise, however: = [noh71] in 1848 shows number 20, where I described the numbers as slightly
below the centre, and it has the anchor leaning hoistward. = Captain J.H. de Weerd's flag in 1855 likewise has the anchor leaning hoistward, but has the numbers slightly off-set towards the bottom, as well as off-set towards the hoist. The latter is caused by this being the only image that shows the flag as clearly not 2:3; ignoring the flowing of the flag it has a ratio of ca. 1:2. = Leen Smit in 1935 depicted number 151 with the numbers almost centered; slightly off-set towards the bottom and the fly, and the anchor leaning flyward.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 6 Dec 2001