Last modified: 2002-10-19 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Leuven]](../images/b/be-vbrlv.gif)
by Filip van Laenen
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Leuven (86,000 inhabitants) is the capital city of the province of Flemish Brabant.
The flag is horizontally divided red-white-red. Proportions are 2:3.
Source: Flags of the Low Countries
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms. The arms are gules a
fess argent. The oldest known seals of the city (beginning of the
13th century until the middle of the 14th century) depicts the
Romanic, later on Gothic front of the Saint-Peters church. In 1358,
something new appeared on the seals: in the entrance of the church, a
small shield with a fess was added. From the 15th century on, this
shield was placed in front of Saint-Peter, the patron saint of the
city. So, from the 14th century on, the city of Leuven had arms with
a fess, and younger sources show that it is a fess argent on a red
field.
According to a popular story, the colours recall the large defeat of
the Normans near Leuven in 891 against Arnulf of Kärnthen. On
that day, so much blood flowed into the river Dijle, that only in the
middle there was a small stripe of clear water: a fess argent between
the red blood.
The flag was adopted on 2 April 1979.
Jarig Bakker, 30 October 2001
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