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Flags of the World

Page created: 1st October 2000 Last updated: 5th September 2020
The FAME is a site devoted to the systematic and scientific study of flags and coats of arms. Such symbols often bear strong political and other messages. Inclusion of those symbols here does not mean that the author supports or approves of the ideas they may stand for.	This site is harvested for the NSK digital archives.

Map of the Split and Dalmatia County. Legend: BV = Baška Voda, DR = Dugi Rat, Du. = Dugopolje, Le. = Lećevica, Lo. = Lokvičići, Ma. = Makarska, Ne. = Nerežišća, PD = Primorski Dolac, Po. = Podbablje, Pr. = Positra, Ps. = Podstrana, Pu. = Pučišća, So. = Solin, Su. = Supetar, Še. = Šestanovac, Tr. = Trogir, Tu. = Tučepi, Za. = Zadvarje

Split and Dalmatia County - Cities

Splitsko-dalmatinska županija - gradovi

1. Split
   • Split, 1700 anniversary
   • Split, 1969 – 1991
   • Split, ca. 1933
   • Split, 1882
2. Hvar
   • Hvar, 1993 – 2018
3. Imotski
4. Kaštela
   • Kaštela, 1987 – 1990
5. Komiža
   • Komiža, 1994 – 1995
6. Makarska
7. Omiš
   • Omiš, 1999 – 2001
   • Omiš, late 19th c.
8. Sinj
   • Sinj, 1994/2010
9. Solin
   • Solin, proposals
10. Stari Grad
    • Stari Grad, 1997 – 2001
    • Stari Grad, 1993 – 1997
11. Supetar
    • Supetar, 2004 – 2005
12. Trilj
13. Trogir
    • Trogir, 1996 – 1998
    • Trogir, ca. 1995
14. Vis
    • Vis, ca. 1995 – 2010
15. Vrgorac
16. Vrlika

Since 1993 the Croatian legislation allows the units of local self-government (counties, cities and communities) to have their coat of arms and flag, however these may be legally used only after they are approved by a central state authority. The a flag of a city or community should be of a one colour field with the coat of arms in the centre or offset towards hoist. Some exceptions from this rule are tolerated for the cities with traditional flag established before these rules were made. The coat of arms must follow also a set of rules to be approved. Some cities and communities use unapproved designs nevertheless. See more on the approval dates. Prior to 1993 the coats of arms and flag were not regulated by state legislation.
The official bazon (heraldic descripton) of the coats of arms and descriptions of the flags are according to the approval text of the central state authority, other description according to other city documents.
In 1997 the communities of Komiža, Stari Grad, Supetar, Vrgorac and Vrlika were given the status of a city, and in 1998 Trilj was also.

• Split and Dalmatia County
• Croatia - Counties
• Croatia

Split

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The coat of arms of the city of Split pictures in a rectangular shield the part of the northern walls of the Diocletian's palace, as it was in the middle age, and in the middle above the walls the belfry of the Cathedral. In the upper corners are two shields, dexter the historical coat of arms of Croatia and sinister a shield picturing the city patron St. Dujam. The coat of arms is bordered with the Gothic cheques.
The oldest confirmation that Spilt used the rectangular coat of arms are dated to the early 14th century. Stone-cuttings are preserved from 14th and 15th century showing the same coat of arms with the shields around the belfry at any time showed the central rulers to which Split was paying alliance. Latte the coats of arms of the city are used also without these shields, and at different times in different artistically rendition. In 19th and 20th century the coat of arms was sometimes shaped as classical heraldic shield, as a rule without the shields around the belfry. After the World War II the coat of arms is not used any more until 1969 when the new coat of arms design was adopted, now with socialist emblems, that are replaced with St. Dujam image in 1991.
The flag is blue, in gradient from darker to lighter from hoist to fly (bottom to top in the vertical form), with the white emblem in the hoist (lower half of the vertical flag), consisting of six inscriptions SPLIT forming the silhuette of the Diocletian's palace with the St. Dujam Cathedral belfry topped with a cross.

Until 1993 the community of Split was part of the Civic Assembly of Communities of Split, together with Solin and Kaštela.

Split, 1700 anniversary

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In 1996 Split was celebrating its 1700^th anniversary. In connection with the celebration a flag was often used during all 1990's and even afterwards, showing the logo of the celebration, which is in turn based on the traditional coat of arms. This celebration flag de facto became the only civic flag in use well into 21st century.

Split, 1969 – 1991

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With the end of the World War II the use of the coat of arms of Split ceased in practice in any form, and it was only in 1969 that the new version was adopted, with the emblems of the time. To dexter of the belfry is set the historical Croatian chequy shield, while to sinister there is in the shield argent a mullet of five gules. The official descriptions were changed slightly in 1974 and 1978, but that did not affect the drawing. This coat of arms was formally abolished with the adoption of the new design in 1991. When needed a blue flag with generic white Diocletian’s palace depiction was sometimes used, but it was in fact not prescribed..

Split, ca. 1933

No flag.

The municipality was using basically the same coat of arms as in the end of the 19th century in slightly changed artistic style of the cartouche. No city flag was recorded used between the two World Wars.

Split, 1882

1:2~

On the elections held on 9th November 1882 the (Croatian) Peoples Party won for the first time, and on 22nd November the Croatian tricolour with the historical coat of arms of the city was hoisted on the "standard" at Hrvoje's tower. The flag is preserved in the City Museum, red-white-blue tricolour, with the coat of arms: azure the Diocletian's palace with belfry argent, surrounded with a rich golden cartouche.

Hvar

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The coat of arms of Hvar is per fess azure St. Stephen the Pope siting on a throne or and or on a base azure barry wavy argent a city argent with two towers each topped with a blue flagž. Smilar coat of arms appeared in the city seals at elast since the 19th century. The flag is blue with the coat of arms in the centre bordered yellow. A ceremonial flag is in a gonfalon form, dark blue with the coat of arms in the centre, the city name inscribed in a single line above it, and branches of olive and vine tree below.

Hvar, 1993 – 2018

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The coat of arms of Hvar adopted in 1993 was The coat of arms of Hvar is per fess azure St. Stephen the Pope siting on a throne or and or on a base azure the city of Hvar argent: embatteled walls edged with two towers each topped with a blue flag opened in the middle between a church and the arsenal and behind it a castle on a rock. The flag was blue flag with that coat of arms in its centre bordered with a thin white ribbon. In practice, most of the flags were, apparently produced without the ribbon. The ribbon was, however, prescribed still in the 2018 Statutes. The ceremonial flag was the same, made of silk and with golden fringe. Table flags recorded in use were a vertical version with the coat of arms rotated above the city name inscribed white.

Imotski

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The coat of arms of Imotski is azure a tower argent on mounts gules and in chief a mullet or and in base a crescent also argent. The flag is white with the coat of arms in the centre. The ceremonial flag is vertical, and has golden ribbon outline and golden fringe along the bottom. According to Laszowski, the coat of arms was granted by the Minister of Interior in 1890, and prior to that the depiction of St. Francis of Asizi was used as the coat of arms (i.e. probably in the seal).

Kaštela

Seat of administration: Kaštel Sučurac

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The emblem used as the coat of arms shows within a square frame a tower with the central part composed of seven different towers, under a single roof and raising from a single base, above is the Croatian chequy shield and the name of the city is below under two lines symbolizing the sea, all golden on a white background. The Statutes also prescribe "Gothic white squares" to encircle the coat of arms, but these are not used in practice. This emblem symbolically shows the seven individual towns (castles = Kaštela) that make up the city. The flag is vertical blue with the emblem (with voided background) in the middle and the name of the city repeated below. It is not officially adopted but it is in use at least since 2004. Also, since at least 2012, the horizontal flags with the emblem in the centre (and no aditional inscriptions) are used.

Until 1993 the community of Kaštela was part of the Civic Assembly of Communities of Split, together with Solin and Split.

Kaštela, 1987 – 1990

No flag.

The coat of arms was originally adopted in 1987, with slight differences: it included both the chequy shield and the shield with a five-pointed stars in each corner with the inscription between, while there were three lines beneath the seven towers, symbolizing the sea. The roof is said to be symbol for the behind the coast (hilly) region of the city. It is not clear whether it was used in colours. The design was obviously modeled after the coat of arms of Split used at the period. The flag was not prescribed nor is any recorded in use.

Komiža

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The coat of arms of Komiža pictures a sail ship on waves, St. Nicolas the city patron and an anchor. Both Ströhl in 1904 and Laszowski in 1932 record such coat of arms used in the community seal. The flag is yellow with the coat of arms in the centre. Variants with the arms bordered yellow and white were both recorded in use. The 2009 Statutes also prescribes the existance of a ceremonial flag, but non was recorded so far. The table flag is a vertical rectangular yellow flag with the coat of arms offset towards the bottom topped with blue inscribed city name in two arches.

Until 1997 Komiža had community status.

Komiža, 1994 – 1995

The historical coat of arms in nearly identical shape was adopted already in 1994, but the adopted flag was the Croatian tricolour with the community arms in the centre. After receiving the guidelines from the central authorities, the monocoloured flag was adopted.

Makarska

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The coat of arms is Gules a hand embowed argent issuant from dexter holding a sabre and in the sinister chief a mullet of the same. It is the modernization of the coat of arms shown in Fojnica Armorial of XVI century and is preserved in a stone carving on Venetian fountain of XVII century in the middle of the city. It was used since mid-17th century the Community of Makarska Littoral (Primorje) seals, and in the modern form since 1866. It is said that the red field represents blood and life, the star light and victory, and the hand with a sabre victory, curage and strangth. The flag is blue with the coat of arms offset towards hoist on the obverse. The reverse of the flag is prescribed the blue field only without the coat of arms! The vertical table flag contains the name of the city in lower part.
Ströhl depicts the arms in a blue shield with the rams halding a sabre, with the mullet above all over engrailed wavy water in the base.

Omiš

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The coat of arm of Omiš is based on the historical coat of arms: azure a Latin cross and a spiked mace both or. The flag is blue with the coat of arms off-set to hoist bordered white. The historicial arms are preserved from 1541 as stone carving, shown in colours in 1579 Venetian charter recognizing Omiš privileges (the so called Ducala of Omiš). A new coat of arms was granted to the city in the end of 19th century by the Austrian Ministry of Interior, showing in blue shield two golden rocks, a lion on the dexter and S. George defeating the dragon on the sinister and in the chief a cross staff and a fleury sceptre in saltire, all or. Laszowski notes the use of that coat of arms in 1930's and mentiones a city flag depicting it, but further details remain unknown. Both arms were supressed during the socialist period and the older one was readopted in 1999 and again in 2002, when the flag was also introduced.

Omiš, 1999 – 2001

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In 1999 the current design of the coat of arms and the flag were adopted in blazon, although in slightly different graphical layout. It formally replaced a coat of arms used in the socijalist period. The design was replaced in 2001 with a new one, and subsequently a few others that were not published, until the current design was adopted in 2002.

Omiš, late 19th c.

Laszowski reports a city flag that was still in use in 1930's being blue with the late 19th century coat of arms. Further details of this flag are unknown, as well as its current whereabouts. Here is presented an attempt of reconstruction of what it might have been like.

Sinj

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The coat of arms of Sinj is azure a horseman on a running horse holding a spear in his right and a circular shield ensigned with an alka in his left all argent and in chief a crown fleury or. The horseman is an alkar in traditional garment - participant in traditional knightly game played in Sinj. The alka is a double concentric ring that is to be pierced with the spear by horseman. The flag is white with the coat of arms in the centre. The vertical version is also prescribed, with the arms in the upper part. A ceremonial flag of unknown details seems also to exist. Table flag in use are of the same design as the vertical flag, but also vertical white triangularly ending flags with the city name in two rows above the arms and vine and olive branches below.
Althogh this design was approved in 2003 and has been in use at least as long, it seems that it was formally adopted only in 2013 amendments to the Statutes.

Sinj, 1994/2010

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The symbols of Sinj prescribed in 1994 differ from those approved. The coat of arms is azure an Alkar on a horse argent and in the chief gules fimbriated argent a crown or. The flag is white with a red stripe alongthe top and a blue along the bottom and a golden-black oval in the white stripe off-set to hoist depicting the Lady of Sinj and the shapes of the Sinj fortresses Grad and Kamičak. These were not approved by the Ministry and are not in use, however, the 2010 decision prescribes them as the city symbols again.
Drawings reconstructed! More info needed, please!

Solin

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The coat of arms of Solin is a light blue oval shield with black ground plan of part of the Roman amphitheatre and the city name, in the centre red ground plan of the old-Croatian basilica of St. Peter and Moses, its base dexter corner turning into the Croatian chequy fields. Above is a yellow raising sun and the early Christian cross, to the sinister white vertical wavy lines entering white lines at the base. The raising sun is said to symbolise Solin as the the "cradle of the Croatian statehood", the cross the site of Croatian christianisation and the basilica the site of coronation of King Zvonimir. The white lines symbolise the Jadro river entering the Adriatic sea. The flag is light blue with the yellow outlined coat of arms in the canton.

Until 1993 Solin was part of the Civic Assembly of Communities of Split, together with Split and Kaštela.

Solin, proposals

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The author of the design proposed after its adoption two version of flag to go with the coat of arms, one that was adopted as the flag above, and the other a diagonal tricolour red-white-blue with the cross from the coat of arms in the first and the church ground plan and chequy emblem in the centre.

Stari Grad

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The coat of arms of Stari Grad is azure, on a base vert city walls with three towers argent, the middle one taller, each embattled and with open doors. The flag is white with the yellow bordered coat of arms in the centre of it. A vertical version of it is also recorded in use. The ceremonial flag is a red gonfalon with the coat of arms in the centre, the name inscribed above and three different floral ornaments in three tails at the bottom - an olive, a vine and a figue. This is the modernization of the medieval coat of arms of the city, anciently used with red background as well. In 1879 the city was granted a new coat of arms: quartered, 1) a stone pine (umbrella pine, Pinus pinea) and a vine tree in an wheat field with a goat, symbolic for the fertility of the region; 2) an antique sail ship, symbolic for the Greek colonisation; 3) a large stone masoned wall on the bank of a bay, for the old Pharos, with an olive tree, myrtle and rosemary and 4) symbolic for hope, a lion standing on a clif by a raising sun and a swallow flying above. Around the shield were two green snakes carying the motto "LABOREMVS" (i.e. Let's work). This coat of arms was used at the turn of the century on a blue gonfalon banner. The use of that probably ended in 1918.

Until 1997 Stari Grad had community status. One can often find name Stari Grad na Hvaru to differentiate from Starigrad-Paklenica in the Zadar County.

Stari Grad, 1997 – 2001

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In 1997 the preivously readopted historical design was replaced with somewhat modernized drawing, following the Lazsowski pattern. The flag was adopted at this time, white with the coat of arms bordered silver. The ceremonial flag was of the same design, made of silk and with golden fringe.

Stari Grad, 1993 – 1997

Flag unknown.

In 1993 the community of Stari Grad adopted its historical coat of arms as preserved carved in stone on the city hall building: the oval shield set in a baroque cartouche, azure on a base vert the city walls without embattlements with three open doors, above the central an oval embattled tower with 3 (1-1-1) windows and a parapet and to its left and right each a shorter oval embattled tower with three (2-1) windows. In spite of the baroque shield prescribed, a design based on Laszowski depiction (and very similar to the current design) was in use.

Supetar

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The coat of arms of Supetar is per pale argent and gules overall a key counterchanged. The key is attribute of St. Peter, the namesake and the patron of the city. The cross form in the wards is of the early Christian form as on the first adopted design (see below). The cricular shaft is ornamented in stylized form of the mosaic from the parish church in Supetar. The flag is red with the coat of arms in the centre. The vertical version is also prescribed.

Until 1997 Supetar had community status.

Supetar, 2004 – 2005

The coat of arms adopted initially was gules an Early Christian cross argent. The cross is of the form as found on a sarcophagus in the church of St. Nicolas in Supetar. The flag adoptred was virtually the banner of arms - red flag with the same cross in the centre of the hoist half. This was probably rejected by the Ministry and led to the adopting of the current design.

Trilj

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The coat of arms of Trilj is azure St. Michael hoding a sword and scales standing on a bridge all argent. St. Michael is patron of the town, while the bridge is there over Cetina river since Antiquity, when it was known as Pons Tiluri. The flag is blue with the coat of arms bordered white in the centre of it. Flags in use show various shades of blue flag leaf as well as the coat of arms background, ranging from pale blue to very dark blue in different combinations. The outline presrcibed white is also found yellow in some produced flags. Table flags are vertical with the coat of arms properly rotated, golden outlined and inscribed with the city name beneath it.

Until 1998 Trilj had community status.

Trogir

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The coat of arms of Trogir is Azure, a Fort with a Bell-tower Argent on the base barry wavy of the two; a Trailing Mullet Or in canton; in the doors of the fort standing St. John Osorinus clead gules and is holding a bishop's staff or. The arms are stylistic modernization of the old seal. St. John Osorinus or St. John of Trau (Trogir) was the first bishop of Trogir in 11th century, supporting the Croatian kings ruling the hinterland, burried in the cathedral of St. Lawrence in Trogir. The figure of the saint in the city gates with a falling star appears already in 14th century seals, and the coat of arms of the same basic design is recorded in all major heraldic works in the region.

Trogir, 1996 – 1998

The coat of arms of Trogir adopted in 1996 was replica of the stone carving in the city lodge of Trogir, with the same elements in a Baroque cartouche. The flag was prescribed white vertical flag with seven tails in the bottom, bordered with golden all around, and with the coat of arms in the centre and the city name on the obverse and the depiction of St. John of Trogir on the reverse. The depictions were prescribed to be hand embroidered, and the figure of St. John embroidered with golden thread.

Trogir, ca. 1995

5:8~

A flag used in Trogir prior to adoption of the official pattern was based on the historical coat of arms, white verical gonfalon with rectangualr tails with a square panel containing the elemets from the coat of arms - blue with a white fortress issuing from the waves with four towers and a belfry and city patron St. John Osorinus (St. John of Trau) standing at the doors, and with a shooting star in chief dexter and the coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia in sinister chief. With the adoption of the official flag, this flag would presumably be replaced, although it was still hoisted in 2004 at the Kamerlengo castle.

Vis

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The coat of arms of the city of Vis is a gules on a base vert between two towers argent St. George or on a horse also argent killing the dragon also or. The flag is blue with the coat of arms in the centre of it.The ceremonial flag is a blue gonfalon ending triangularly, with the coat of arms in the centre, golden inscription of the city name above and on olive and a vine branch below.

Vis, ca. 1995 – 2010

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The coat of arms of the city of Vis used prior to adoption of the current design a blue oval with St. George killing the dragon within golden baroque cartouche. The flag was white with the coat of arms in the middle.

Vrgorac

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The coat of arms of Vrgorac is gules from a rock argent a massoned tower issuant and atop of it sinister a tower topped with a mast flying a flag azure in use, although the decision prescribes a blue shield instead. The flag is blue with the coat of arms in the centre. The coat of arms showing the tower of Gradina originates from 1865 when it is used in a seal form.

Until 1997 Vrgorac had community status.

Vrlika

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The coat of arms of Vrlika is gules a ruined church argent massoned sable. It is the church of St. Salvador (Sv. Spas), originating from 9th century, with the oldest remaining belfry in Croatia witnessing the Frankish influence on the Christianization of Croats. Almost identical coat of arms picturing the same church (azure a ruined church or) is used by neighbouring community of Kijevo (although the church is actually in the territory of the community of Civljane between the two). The flag is white with the coat of arms in the centre of it.
The initial 1996 proposals that the Ministry have not approved included, beside a differently stylized church, some folklore elements. The flag was adopted with the arms next to the hoist, but approved with the arms in the centre.

Until 1997 Vrlika had community status.

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Flags of the World