Merkstein

MERKSTEIN Country : Germany State : Nordrhein-Westfalen District (Kreis) : Städteregion Aachen Incorporated into: 1971 Herzogenrath Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"250px","height":"250px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":7,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":50.88459999999999894271240918897092342376708984375,"lon":6.10510000000000019326762412674725055694580078125,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Official blazon

German	blazon wanted
English	blazon wanted

Origin/meaning

The arms were adopted in 1936 and show a border stone, which is a canting element. The arms are based on an actual stone in the village, dating from Prussian times, the name of the village, however, is much older.

The horse head is a symbol of the horse breeding in the municipality. The meaning of the star is not very clear, it has been mentioned that the star was simply a symbol to fill the shield, but that has been rejected by other sources. The explanation is that the star refers to the Nordstern (North-star) mine in the municipality. As the mine was a bulwark of Socialism at the time, it was not politically correct to mention the name of the mine in 1936/7 and instead describe the star is 'filling'.

Literature: Image provided by the Aachen council; background by Rüdiger Vermöhlen

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