Last modified: 2003-08-16 by dov gutterman
Keywords: coast | gorski kotar | croatia | primorsko-goranska | zupanija | rijeka | fiume | severin |
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by Zeljko Heimer, 22 October 2000
See also:
Municipalities:
The Coast and Gorski kotar County (or the County of Coast and
Gorski kotar, or in Croatian Primorsko-goranska z<upanija, or
earlier Z<upanija primorsko- goranska) is a county which
consists of three geographic regions - the Croatian Coast (the
Coast under Velebit range, which since middle age always belonged
to Croatia, and was never [or rarely] claimed by others), the
Kvarner bay islands and north-eastern coast of Istria, and the
hinterland mountainous region of Gorski kotar. The seat of
administration is the city of Rijeka (known also by her Italian
name Fiume).
The County was notorious for its oppositional government in all
elections in 1990's, and had many problems in costituting the
assemby, so it is possible that the flag was adopted quite late -
my guess is 1995/96."
The coat of arms of the county is based on the coa of the former
Austro- Hungarian county of Severin, which excluded Rijeka and
the islands, but was basically in the same territoy. The county
of Severin was disassambled in 1786 and mosty added to the county
of Rijeka (again excluding the city itself). I have not found
info on the coa of that county, it seems it used the coa of
Rijeka, which is unusual, since the city used the same (as
Hungarian crownland).
Possibly at some time the coa was chnaged to something similar to
the one that is used today: divided in three - 1. Croatia; 2.
azure, a mountain range vert with snow-covered tops, in front a
fortified city, in chief crossed spike-mace argent and schmittar
or; 3. azure, between two clifs or a three-masted sailling vessel
with long tricolour pennant and a mullet or.
The flag is light blue with the coat of arms in the middle and
thin white stripes near the top and bottom (Israeli style). Ratio
1:2 (according my observation, and very probably official).
Source: photographs and drawings from D. Munic et al.
"Zupanija primorsko-goranska - the County of Coast and
Gorski kotar", Rijeka, 1996.
Zeljko Heimer, 28 June 1998
Concering county of Severin CoA, Zeliko's suggestion is
possible. I have bought a book: Csa'ki, Imre: A magyar
kira'lysa'g va'rmegyéinek ci'merei a XVIII-XIX. sza'zadban,
Corvina, Budapest, 1995 , in which are shown (one big coat of
arms in each page!) all the coats of arms of the counties of the
Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the XVIII. and
XIX. centuries.
The coat of arms shown for the "Modrus-Fiume
va'rmegeye"-"Szeverin va'rmegyei" [Modrus (?)
-Rijeka county - Severin county] is so described: cartouche
shield divided per fess: 1- divided per pal: a- chequered of 25
gules and argent; b- azure an anchor argent with a palm leaf vert
per bend and a sword argent and or per bend sinister; 2- azure
(light) on a sea azure between two cliffs argent a little ship
brown with two sails tierced per pal gules, argent and vert and a
banner of the arms of Hungary. On the whole an inescutcheon or
with the letters I.II.M.T [for Joseph II, Maria Theresia]. The
supporters are: dexter, a lion regardant or tongued gules,
sinster an eagle regardant sable armed or tongued gules.The
shield is surmounted by a royal crown or. The whole is on a
board. The coat of arms was adopted as a seal in 1778. I cannot
understand Hungarian, but the text is also describing the coat of
arms of Fiume county.
Pascal Vagnat, 28 June 1998
Description is indeed what was Severin county CoA. However, I
am not sure if Modrus-Fiume continued to use it unchanged...
Zeljko Heimer, 2 July 1998
On the web site <www.tel.hr/pgz>
it is possible to see the correct flag of the Primorsko -
Goranska zupanija (Croatian Coast and Mountains County).
Janko Ehrlich Zdvorak, 17 August 2000
we had some specualtions regarding the previous use of this
CoA, but based on info from the County site (<www.tel.hr/pgz>) one can get
the official description of the CoA and it's origin. Based on
that here it is:
The coat of arms is in shield of so called German shape, divided
per fess and upper part per pale: 1. chequy Gules and Argent; 2.
Azure, a coastal fortified City Argent with buildings roofed
Gules surrounded with Mountains Vert topped with Snow and in
chief a Sabre Or and a spiked Mace Argent in saltire; 3. Azure, a
Sail Boat proper with white sails and Croatian triband pennant at
mizzen-masthead, in chief dexter a Frankopan Star Mullet) Or all
between Cliffs proper. The coat of arms is the same as those used
by the Rijeka County between 1786 and 1886, that is in turn based
on the coat of arms of Severin County. The flag is light blue
with a thin white stripe near both horizontal edges (width of the
stripe 1/16 of flag hoist, as it is the offset from the edge). In
the middle there is the County coat of arms.
The Severin County 1778-1786 used another CoA (similar, but with
anchor in second field, and with inescutcheon). Afterwards, since
1886 to the end of Austian-Hungarian Empire, the Modrus-Fiume
County used the same CoA as Severin County. So, the modern County
decided to readopt the one used inbetween for Fiume County (as
can be seen from images on the mentioned site).
Zeljko Heimer, 22 October 2000
The decision on adoption of the symbols: Odluka o grbu i
zastavi Primorsko-goranske županije, 15.06.1995.
Službene novine Primorsko-goranske županije, br. 13/95,
26. lipnja 1995.
Source: [osg02]
Zeljko Heimer, 15 June 2003
ri.gif)
by Zeljko Heimer, 22 October 2000
by Zeljko Heimer, 24 March 2003
Coat of arms was granted in 1778. The County of Severin was
dissembled in 1786, most of it parts were given to the newly
formed County of Rijeka. The flag was in use together with the
flag of the County of Rijeka for a long time. Adopted: 18th
century.
Source: Jelena Borosak-Marjanovic: “Zastave kroz
stoljeca, zbirka zastava i zastavnih vrpca Hrvatskog povjesnog
muzeja”, Hrvatski povjesni muzej, Zagreb, 1996.
Zeljko Heimer
The flag is supposed to be sideways, i.e. it has a sleave at
the left edge of the image. With this sleave it is attached to
the flagstaff. However, design is "read" properly only
when this flagstaff is held horisontally.
Zeljko Heimer, 24 March 2003
It is highly probable that all of the The Coast and Gorski
Kotar County cities and communities also have a ceremonial flag,
similar in design to the one that is used by Kraljevica. If I don't report them it is
only because I have no info on them and their existance. This is
because they are produced in one example each and are not that
often seen. If they are not docummented in legislation on
otherwise in media (TV, newspapers, web) they remain virtually
"hidden".
Zeljko Heimer, 24 June 2003