Vilvoorde

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VILVOORDE

Province : Vlaams-Brabant
Additions : 1977 Peutie

Official blazon

(1819) Van rood beladen met een getoomde burgt en ter wederzijde verzeld van een banier, alles van goud.
(1839) Een rood veld met een gulden kasteel.
(1985) In keel een burcht van goud, verlicht en gemetseld van sabel, bestaande uit een middengebouw met geopende poort en opgetrokken valdeur, met een schilddak waarin drie dakkapellen, tussen twee zijtorens met kegelspits en windvaan, begeleid door twee staande afgewende banieren van keel met vrijkwartier van goud.

Origin/meaning

The arms were first granted on September 15, 1819, confirmed on May 6, 1839 and again on April 1st, 1985.

Vilvoorde was fortified in 1192 and ever since considered a city. The oldest seal of the city is known since 1346 and shows a castle with two towers. The second seal, known since 1366 shows a more complex castle with two towers and two banners. The banner show a plain field with a free quarter in another colour (colours are unknown).

Seal from 1355

The arms are based on the third seal, which showed the same composition as the present arms, including the banners beside the towers. The castle itself is a symbol of the fortified character of the city.

The main change in the new arms from 1985 is the colour of the banners, which are now red instead of gold, the historically correct version.

In 1981 the Flemish Herladic Committee advised to the new municipality to add the boar's head of Peutie on the banners. The municipality did not agree with this proposal. Anywat, the head would be impossible to see on smaller versions of the arms.