History of the Belgian flag

This page has been automatically translated from French into English by a translation software. Automatic translations are not as accurate as translations made by professional human translators. Nevertheless these pages can help you understand information published by the City of Brussels.

   

On the document, one man is particularly interesting: the flag bearer holds the colors of the Belgian Volunteers in his left hand.

Ancient Brabant flag

When the Belgian Revolution started on 25 August 1830, journalist Edouard Ducpétiaux took an active part in these days. He tells his story:

From the first days, and when the Dutch troops were repulsed, they raised the French flag at several places in the city. But this was rejected by lots of people. Accompanied by a troop of young people and workers, I did not hesitate to bring down the French flag everywhere and substitute it for the Brabant flag which later became the flag of Belgium.

First version

This flag, with horizontal stripes in the colors of Brabant, was the first version of the Belgian flag. One of the first of these flags was raised at the City Hall of Brussels on 26 August 1830. A flag like this one can be seen in the drawing during the attack on the Parc de Bruxelles (Warandepark). The red color is placed at the top, the yellow in the centre, and black below.

Red, yellow and black

To avoid any confusion with the Dutch flag, the Government decided to place the colors vertically on 23 January 1831: the red color being near the handle. However, the drawing annexed to this decision places the colors differently: black being near the handle. This order became definitive in October 1831. The Belgian Constitution, which does not mention the national flag, mentions however, in its current article 193 the colors of the Belgian Nation in the original order: red, yellow and black.

• Scene of the attack on the Parc de Bruxelles (Brussels Park) - 25 September 1830 (PDF, 0,56MB)