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City of Żejtun (Malta)

Città Beland, formerly Città Bilandt

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image by Dirk Schönberger, exported to GIF by António Martins, 28 October 2002

Description

See also:

Subnational Flags (Malta)
Malta

Description

City of Zejtun uses a flag similar to the Order of Malta's flag, but with a dark green cross. Source: Strickland 1999 [str99].

Ivan Sache, 28 February 2000

Blazon: Argent a cross Vert. Zejtun is called Città Beland, I assume this must have been the arms of a Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

António Martins, 1 March 2000

From this webpage:

Towards the end of the 18th century, villages vied for township status. Thrilled with the presence of Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch at St. Catherine's festa, village elders requested this symbolic tribute citing some engaging arguments. The village had a population of 6,000, they said (an exaggeration), its militia unit was under the command of a colonel (rather than a captain), and it had a flourishing commerce. His eminence was convinced. Only trouble was he had already conferred the titles Città Hompesch (to Zabbar) and Città Ferdinand (to Siggiewi) and was running out of names. So he called Zejtun Città Bilandt (now spelled Beland), after his mother's lineage.

Santiago Dotor, 9 February 2006