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Munster (Municipality, Haut-Rhin, France)

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Flag of Munster - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 25 December 2024

Presentation of Munster
Flag of Munster
- Former flags of Munster

See also:

Presentation of Munster

Munster (4,707 inhabitants in 2021; 864 ha) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department, located in a valley of the Vosges mountains about 15 kilometres west of Colmar.

The name Munster comes from the low Latin monasterium "monastery" (just like Münster in Westphalia). The city owes its name to the monastery founded in 660 by Irish monks. These ex-companions of Samson de Dol, Mac Low and Brieg founded a community and an abbey there and started making cheeses when they came to evangelize Gaul. Munster is very famous for its cheese (the Munster cheese). Surrounded by ramparts in 1308, it joined forces with other towns to found the Decapolis in 1354.

In the 16th century, the city passed to the Protestant Reformation. The Thirty Years' War ravaged the area from 1618 to 1648 before Catholics and Protestants recognized each other.

Munster Abbey was closed in 1791. The whole region suffered cruelly from the First World War and the Second World War. The city of Munster was destroyed at 85% during the First World War. The town was decorated on November 2, 1921 with the 1914-1918 war cross, and in July 1948 with the 1939-1945 war cross.

The arms of Munster are blazoned: Argent a church portal flanked by two roofed towers surmounted of crosslets, all Gules.

Olivier Touzeau, 21 October 2020

Flag of Munster

In october 2023, white flags with a stylized rendition of the coat of arms could be observed on the city hall (photo).
The model is the graphic part of the new municipal logo adopted in 2021.

Olivier Touzeau, 21 October 2020

Former flags of Munster

Former flags of Munster, left, observed in 2009 right, reported in the years 2000
Images by Olivier Touzeau, 25 December 2024 and 21 October 2020

According to French vexillologist Pascal Vagnat (no primary source available [see emblemes.free.fr website, flag reported in 2010]), "the flag of the city of Munster is red with the coat of arms of the town as it appears in the Armorial de la généralité d'Alsace" (with a terrace Vert under the church gate Gules, see: Armorial de la généralité d'Alsace)

A red flag with coat of arms could be observed in 2009 on the city hall, but without the terrace vert: photo, 2009.
There were probably several variants of the red flag with coat of arms.

Olivier Touzeau, 25 December 2024

Banner of Munster, observed in the years 2000 - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 21 October 2020

White flagoids/banners of arms in decorative garlands could be observed in front of the city hall: photo (2007).

Olivier Touzeau, 21 October 2020