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Vosselaar (Municipality, Province of Antwerp, Belgium)

Municipal flag of Vosselaar - Image by Filip van Laenen, 5 October 2001

Presentation of Vosselaar
Municipal flag of Vosselaar

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Presentation of Vosselaar

The municipality of Vosselaar (10,212 inhabitants on 1 January 2007; 1,185 ha) is located in northern Kempen, close to Turnhout.

Vosselaar, mentioned in 1383 as Vorsterlaer, in 1447 as Voirsselaar, in 1560 as Vosselaer and eventually as Vosselaar in 1931, is of Frankish origin, as proved by its triangular market square. The name of the village means "a clearing in the woods (laar) inhabited by foxes (vossen)". Vosselaar belonged to the Country of Turnhout until the French Revolution while Vosselaar and Beerse formed a single parish until 1776.

The "Onze-LieveVrouwekerk" (Notre Dame Church) was known in 1187 as a chapel dedicated to St. John. The church was renamed around 1220 and rebuilt in 1430 because of the huge number of pilgrims coming to invoke the miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin. A brand new neo-gothic church was built in 1876-1886.
Vosselaar can be considered as the oldest pilgrimage place in Kempen. The miraculous statue was already mentioned around 1360. The statue, dated c. 1220, made of pear tree wood, is c. 1 m in height and totally gilded. This kind of statue portraying the Blessed Virgin sitting on the sedes spaientae ("Chair of Wisdom" was very common in the region of the Maas in the XIII-XIVth century. Baby Jesus is portrayed raising the right hand as a sign of knwoledge and teaching, while he holds an orb in the left hand. The statue was visited several times by Mary of Hungary and all her court when she stayed in her castle of Turnhout.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 13 December 2007

Municipal flag of Vosselaar

The municipal flag of Vosselaar is horizontally divided blue-white-blue with a fox proper in the white stripe.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 5 July 1990, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 18 December 1990 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 25 September 1991.
The flag is a banner of the (canting) municipal arms.

Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 13 December 2007