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Idrija (Municipality, Slovenia)

by Zeljko Heimer

Presentation of the municipality
Description of the flag
Coat of arms

See also:

Presentation of the municipality

Idrija is a town of c. 6,000 inhabitants, located in the Goriska (Mountainous) region of Slovenia ,with the second oldest mercury mine in Europe and traditional lace production.

Zeljko Heimer, 9 August 2002

Description of the flag

Based on the article Banderas municipales de Eslovenia, published in Banderas [ban] #58 (March 1996), it seems that Idrija adopted a flag and coat of arms (based on some older coat of arms) on 13 July 1979. This flag and arms are prescribed by a decision published in the offical gazette of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia Uradni list SRS 22/1979, p.1227, 13. July 1979.

More recent municipal statutes (Statut Obcine Idrija, adopted on 21 June 1995, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 50/95; Statut Obcine Idrija, adopted on 14 December 2000, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 1/2000) prescribe the coat of arms and flags, most probably reiterating the 1979 decision.

The statutes provide that a further decision with details on the layout and usage of the coat of arms and the flag shall be made.

The flag is a horizontally divided red-yellow -white, with an overall ratio 1:2. The flag colours are described as zinober red over golden yellow over quicksilver white.

Zeljko Heimer, 9 August 2002

Coat of arms

by Zeljko Heimer

The aforementioned article in Banderas reports that between the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries the city of Idrija used arms blazoned as:

Per pale azure a fess argent and or alchemical symbol for mercury argent.

More recently, may be in the late XIXth century, the city adopted a new coat of arms showing the Roman god Mercury on a silver shield. Mercury is portrayed running with wings on heels and a winged helmet and holding a golden caduceus. He is wearing a green tunic and a red mantle.

Banderas mentions a mural crown above the shield, but the 1995 and 2000 statutes do not mention it .

Zeljko Heimer, 9 August 2002