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Enschede (Netherlands)

Overijssel province

Shipmate Flagchart : http://www.shipmate.nl/flags.htm
adopted 1 Sept 1953

Enschede municipality
Boekelo village

See also:

Enschede municipality

Number of inhabitants (1 Jan 2003): 152.311; area: 141,47 km². Settlements: Enschede (seat), Boekelo, Glanerbrug, Lonneker, Usselo.
The town of Enschede in the province Overijssel in the Netherlands was devastated yesterday by a huge fireworks explosion. At least 20 people were killed, among whom several firefighters quailing a small fire just before the explosion.
Enschede is close to the German border. It used to be the heart of the regional textile-industry, which is now being reorganized, so that the town remains an industrial center in that frontier region.
The flag was adopted 1 Sept 1953.
Jarig Bakker, 14 May 2000

Boekelo village

by Jarig Bakker, 19 Jul 2003

Boekelo is a village in the municipality of Enschede in Overijssel province in the Netherlands. Boekelo is nationally known for the salt which was mined here in the beginning of the 20th century. Water was pumped down into the salt layer, 325-400 meters deep, and pumped up as brine, from which later salt was extracted.

Flagdescription: four equally wide horizontal stripes yellow - green - white - blue, with in the center a yellow disk, high 9/20 of flagheight, and on the disk a black salt-derrick.

Hans van Heyningen, designer of the flag, gave the following explanation (see also Vexilla Nostra jg. 29 (1994), nr. 194 - pag.118:
At first there was the primeval sea (blue stripe); then the salt from the sea crystallized and stayed behind (the white stripe); later other layers of soil covered it and allowed forests to grow (Boekelo - forest of beeches): the green stripe. The white-blue colors also remind of the famous saltwater-wavesbath in Boeleo. Once above ground the salt produced wealth: the yellow stripe - or: salt became gold.
At the request of the village the salt-derrick was added (a wooden tower; in Hengelo-Zuid one remained as a monument, see photo at this webpage.
The flag was adopted on 10 Aug 1994 by the Boekelo village council.
This image based on a photo sent by Gerard Kuipers.
Jarig Bakker, 19 Jul 2003