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Den Haag (The Netherlands)

's-Gravenhage, provincial and national capital, Zuid-Holland province

Last modified: 2003-08-16 by jarig bakker
Keywords: gravenhage | den haag | stork |
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The Hague municipality Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm
adopted 28 Mar 1949 See also:

Den Haag municipality

Number of inhabitants (1 Jan 2003): 458.909; area: 85,50 km². Settlements: Den Haag Centrum, Escamp, Haagse Hout, Laak, Loosduinen, Scheveningen, Segbroek, Ypenburg/Leidschenveen.
Den Haag is the capital of the Netherlands, and of Zuid-Holland province. It is unclear what its official name is. The more dignified name is 's-Gravenhage (the court of the count), while the colloquial name is Den Haag. In the 1990's the municipality adopted the name Den Haag, but this was not officially confirmed. However the Staatsdrukkerij (national printing office, SDU) uses the name of Den Haag, so I have followed that.

Another question is whether Den Haag is a city or a village. The homepage of the municipality has devoted a page to it, which boils down to the fact, that if the son of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte would marry in Den Haag it would be the "bonne ville de La Haye". Since that never happened Den Haag is still a village - which is a very trivial fact as the Dutch constitution makes no distinction any more between cities and villages since 1848. What counts is that Den Haag is a municipality, and equal in greatness to illustrious names as Schiermonnikoog and Gulpen-Wittem :-)

Den Haag's flag-history is described in Sierksma's Nederlands Vlaggenboek 1962 [sie62]:
Description: Two equally wide horizontal stripes of green and yellow.
This flag was adopted by municipal resolution on 2 Dec 1920, and confirmed, after the colors black and yellow had been used for some time. In March 1857 the Mayor informed the Minister of Interior Affairs that on special occasions the flag of yellow and black was used. Now the municipality has revived an older tradition: local letters in Den Haag had been enveloped by green-yellow ribbons. Moreover there are images of the municipal arms, which are divided golden and green.

Derkwillem Visser's Gemeentevlaggen en wapens Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. 2001, adds:
On 28 Mar 1949 this was changed - the stripes were reversed and the color green was changed.
Jarig Bakker, 17 Jun 2003

Den Haag pre-1920 flag

[Den Haag pre-1920 flag] Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm

Den Haag 1920-1949 flag

[Den Haag 1920-1949 flag] Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm

Den Haag CoA

[Den Haag CoA] image from the Den Haag municipal website.

Granted 24 Jul 1816; confirmed 19 Oct 1954.

Scheveningen village

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

Scheveningen old flag

[Scheveningen old flag] by Jarig Bakker, 10 Aug 2003

Scheveningen is an old fishing village, part of Den Haag and famous bathing resort (see f.i. the Kurhaus).
There was an older flag in use.
Description: three equally wide horizontal stripes of red, white, and green.
This village flag is no longer in use, but was in former times found on fishing boats. On the bow of fishing pinks (one of which took Prince Willem Frederik, later king Willem I from England to Holland) two rectangles were often painted in the village colors. The flag was mentioned in the book of van Lennep and Ter Gouw "De Uithangteekens", 1870, p. 199.
The "Exploitatiemaatschappij Scheveningen" did not reinstate this flag, but instead chose a white-blue flag with in the center the Scheveninger CoA (1961). It was stated that these colors were chosen because they formed a combination, which according to tradition were the typical Scheveninger colors. We (that's Sierksma) know nothing about that!
Source: Sierksma's Nederlands Vlaggenboek, 1962 [sie62]

Based on Sierksma's remarks and on Ralf Hartemink's observation:
"The arms were designed at the beginning of the 20th century. The arms are not historical, Scheveningen always belonged to The Hague, so there are no historical seals or images for the village. The arms indicate the importance of fishing for the local
economy and are most likely based on the arms of Enhuizen."
it doesn't seem to be worthwhile to include that exploitationflag on FOTW-ws.
Jarig Bakker, 10 Aug 2003