Coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia
The coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia is the official coat of arms of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Overview. After World War II on August 23, 1946 the British military administration in Germany established the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia with the merger of the provinces of Westphalia and North Rhine, the northern part of the Prussian Rhine Province, to which in January 1947 the Free State of Lippe was added. That same year Wolfgang Pagenstecher, a famous German heraldist living in Düsseldorf, made the original blazon for  the newly created state, which adopted it on 5 February 1948. On 10 March 1953 this has been confirmed by the "Law about the state's colours, the state's coat of arms and the state' s flag". The named law starts as follows: So the constituent three parts of this coat of arms are: The coat of arms appears as a charge on the state flag of North Rhine-Westphalia.