^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

City of Mainz (Germany)

Stadt Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate

[City of Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)]

image by Stefan Schwoon, 28 Feb 2001

City of Mainz
Carneval flag at Mainz

See also:

Mainz 14th century - 1797
County and Municipal Flags (Rhineland-Palatinate / Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
Germany

City of Mainz

A banner version of the arms. The archdiocese of Mainz, an important and widespread territory of medieval Germany, used a single wheel in its arms (this can be found in many county arms). The city uses two wheels, connected by a cross. Source: Staack 1997.
Stefan Schwoon, 28 Feb 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website: Mainz became a bishopric in 550 and an archbishopric around 800. The archbishops of Mainz also played a major role in the appointment of the new emperor. The bishops owned large possessions in the present states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and Bavaria. The city was also the capital of the State of Mainz. The State of Mainz also existed until 1803.
The arms with the two wheels combined with a cross, appear at the end of the 13th century in the seal of Bishop Sigfried III. The city started to use the two wheels about 50 years later. Originally the two wheels were placed vertically, but were later placed diagonally. The origin of the wheels is not known, they are probably derived from the arms of the State of Mainz, but it may just as well the other way round. The colours were changed by Napoleon, who added the three bees of a city of the first rank in a chief. As the [Napoleonic] chief had to be red, the colours of the shield had to be changed. In 1811 the bees were removed, but the colours were not restored. Only in 1915 the old colours were restored.
Literature: Stadler 1964-1971, Neubecker 1977 [Dutch edition 1988].
Santiago Dotor, 27 Dec 2001

Carneval flag at Mainz

image by Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 27 Feb 2006

Today the carneval in Germany (particularly the areas near the Rhine) is at its zenith.
I came across a photo at wikipedia showing a carneval flag at Mainz. I made a gif accordingly. The flag is a hanging flag of four stripes (r-w-b-y), with the symbol of the MCV (Mainzer Carneval Verein = Mainz Carneval Association) in the canton.
According to the text in the wikipedia article the colours are a mixture of the French colours and the colours of the Catholic church, both to be caricatured this way.

To my knowledge, however, a thorough account of German carneval symbols (including flags) is still wanting.
Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 27 Feb 2006