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Liège (Province, Belgium)

Luik

Unofficial flag of the Province of Liège, in the two proportions in use (1:1 and 2:3) - Images by Geraard Van der Vaart & Mark Sensen, 19 April 2001

Unofficial flag of of the Province of Liège
Flag with the logotype of the Province of Liège
Colours of the Province of Liège
Honorary flag of the Governor of Liège
Rejected proposal of provincial flag

See also:

Unofficial flag of the province of Liège

The banner of arms unofficially used by the Province of Liège as its flag is:
Quartered, I gules the perron of Liège or flanked by the letters L and G of the same, II gules a fess argent, III argent three lions rampant vert 2 + 1 crowned or langued and armed gules, IV or five fesses gules, in point or three horns silver and gules 2+1.

Ivan Sache, 20 June 2004

The first quarter shows the municipal arms of the city of Liège, described as follows:

The present arms were officially granted on February 1st, 1947, and may be surrounded by several chains of military decorations. The arms of Liège show a monument or perron. The perron is most likely derived form an actual monument in the city. It is first seen on a coin of Hendrik II of Limburg, as prince-bishop of Liège, dating between 1145 and 1165. The perron was shown freely on coins until the mid XIVth century, when the symbol was placed in a shield. Whether the city at the time already used it as city arms is not known. Ever since the perron, including the base with the three lions, has been the arms of the city. The actual shape, however has varied widely during the centuries, and similarly, not all images show the lions. In the late XVIIth century the whole name, LIEGE was shown around the perron. The letters L and G appear for the first time in the late XVIIIth century.

Jarig Bakker, 17 November 2001

The coat of arms of the Province of Liège does not represent correctly the current Province of Liège: the former County of Hoorn, represented by the three posthorns, was incorporated into the Netherlands in 1839; the former Duchy of Bouillon, represented by the horizontal red-white-red stripes, is now located in the Belgian Province of Luxembourg; the County of Looz/Borgloon, represented by the horizontal yellow and red stripes, is now more or less the Belgian Province of Limburg. Only one half of the current Province of Liàge belonged to the former Principality of Liège, represented by the perron and letters L and G. The other half was split between the former Duchy of Limburg and the Principality of Stavelot-Malmedy, which are not represented on the provincial banner of arms.

Source: Pascal Parent. Deux projets de drapeaux rejetés : Provinces de Hainaut et Liège (Two rejected proposals of flags: Provinces of Hainaut and Liège). Vexillacta [vxl] #15, March 2002.

Ivan Sache, 22 March 2002

Flag with the logotype of the province of Liège

Flag with the logotye of the Province of Liège - Image by Ivan Sache, 25 March 2008

On 21 March 2008, the magazine Proxi-Liège reported that the Province presented on that day (Spring's day) its refreshed "brand image" (image de marque). The new logotype of the Province has been designed by the Minale Design Strategy agency, advized by a steering committee of 11 people, helped by some 100 other people split into 10 working groups.
The logotype is made of a pseudo-heraldic shield showing a white lion on a red background an a yellow perron. "Province / de Liège" is written in red on the right side of the emblem, the whole being placed on a white background. The motto "Une Province au service de tous" (A Province to the service of all) is written in red letters on the bottom of the emblem. As shown by a photography, the logotype was placed on a white flag, the motto being omitted.

According to the article, "The logotype shall not supersede the official coat of arms, which will remain in use in official ceremonies and in the Governor's acts.[...] The new logotype, which will be used as blazon, poster, letterhead, promotional support, flag... keeps a strong heraldic character.[...] The lion, proud and volunteer, symbolizes the power of the Province, while the perron recalls liberty. The colours of the logotype represent the three basic values of the Province. White, as the lack of colour, represents transparency and accessibility. Red, as the colour of daily passion, is also the colour of blood, liberty, action and fire. Orange-yellow, as recalling gold, was the third dominant colour of the former logotype and symbolizes human warmth."
The new logotype is deemed to be more ecologically responsible since it includes two colours instead of four.

Ivan Sache, 25 March 2008

Colours of the Province of Liège

Unofficial colours of the Province of Liège - Images by Mark Sensen, 27 January 2001

The Province of Liège 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 yellow-red.
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 red-yellow

Mark Sensen, 6 February 2001

Honorary flag of the Governor of Liège

Honorary flag of the Governor of Liège - 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

Rejected proposal of provincial flag

by Ivan Sache

Léon Nyssen, editor of Vexillacta [vxl], designed a flag proposal for the province of Liège and submitted it to the provincial authorities on 30 October 2001.

The proposal was described in Vexillacta #15 (March 2002) by Pascal Parent in a paper entitled Deux projets de drapeaux rejetés : Provinces de Hainaut et Liège (Two rejected proposals of flags: Provinces of Hainaut and Liège).

The flag proposal is not fully related to the provincial arms because these arms do not represent correctly the current province of Liège, as explained above. The flag proposal is 2:3, vertically divided, with four vertical stripes yellow-red-yellow-red and five horizontal white-red-white-yellow-blue. The vertical stripes have the colours of the former principality of Liège. The upper horizontal, white-red stripes have the colours of Limburg. The lower horizontal, white-yellow-blue stand for the abbey-principality of Stavelot-Malmédy. The colours are also placed according to the geographical location of the former entities: Liège on West, Limburg in North-East and Stavelot-Malmedy in South-East.

On 11 January 2002, governor Paul Bolland informed Léon Nyssen that the Permanent Deputation, based on a report by the provincial archivist Mr. Flagothier, had rejected the proposal and decided to keep the banner of arms as the unofficial flag of the province.

Ivan Sache, 22 March 2002