Star-Studded Maastricht

A huge star in the ancient city center welcomes tourists to Maastricht

Maastricht VVV building once served
as a courthouse (Dinghuis)

There's an image identified as Maastricht's flag in a book called the Wappenbuch von Meister, published in Germany in 1545. It shows a man holding a red flag with a white star in the center. In 1994 a modern version of the old original Maastricht flag was introduced. 

The Gemeente Maastricht (Municipality of Maastricht) is proud of its beautiful flag, and has adopted the star as a symbol of the city. You'll see red and white stars displayed everywhere here. A good place to find a selection of these Maastricht stars is the city's tourist office, or "VVV" (short for Vereniging Voor Vreemdelingenverkeer, which means "Association for the Traffic of Foreigners." Sounds like a rogue kidnapping organization! The VVV is housed in a beautiful old building dating to 1470. Originally it was Maastricht's Dinghuis (courthouse).





The VVV sells maps, books about Maastricht and Limburg province, and products made in Maastricht (including appelstroop, a molasses-like syrup made from apples). And then there are the STARS...star keychains, refrigerator magnets, and red pens imprinted with a white Maastricht star. To my delight, I found bags of chocolate stars!

Maastricht's VVV offers a variety of star themed items for sale.

Maastricht's most famous star is its talented native son, Andre Rieu. Rieu is a violinist, known for creating and conducting the Johann Strauss Orchestra that is well-known for its worldwide touring act. Every summer Rieu returns to Maastricht to host a city-wide party centered around a week of the orchestra's concerts. The main stage is in the Vrijthof, Maastricht's largest square. The VVV sells CDs of Andre Rieu's music, of course. They also sell cute little keychains with Andre's image, backed by the ubiquitous Maastricht star! I bought one to bring to a Dutch friend back in the states who was the first person to tell me about this famous Maastrichtenaar.






Maastricht stars pop up in some unusual places. Last week my Dutch friend Ria took me to the grocery store, and while we were there I bought "official" Gemeente Maastricht trash bags. It's mandatory to put your trash in one of these special bags. The price of the pickup is included in the hefty price of the plastic sack. Trash pickup is on Wednesday in our neighborhood, the Jekerquartier. On Tuesday evening I opened the package of Gemeente Maastricht official trash bags. There were those Maastricht sterren again! This time white stars on a red field with the Maastricht logo and RESTAFVAL (waste) printed large. 

Classy trash bags for a classy city.