Last modified: 2010-01-30 by dov gutterman
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image by Željko Heimer, 2 September 2009
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I have been contacted recently by the mayor of Barban, a
community in the Istria County, informing me of the recently
adopted and approved coat of arms and flag. Barban is located in
central-eastern part of Istria, some 30 km NE of Pula. The community counts just over
3,000 inhabitants, though the town of the same name is no more
the 1/10 of that number.
The coat of arms of the community of Barban is a historical coat
of arms of Barban: or a bar vert in chief three moustaches sable
and in base a bridge gules over water azure. The moustaches,
locally called barbe cant the name of the town. The flag
is red with the coat of arms off-set to hoist and towards top.
Before the adoption of this modernized design Barban was using a
more traditional representation of the coat of arms topped with a
golden civic crown and with two oak branches binded with a golden
ribon below. This artwork must have been used since mid-1990's.
Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004
In French, the word barbe, coming from Latin barba,
was originally used to designate the facial hair; progressively,
its meaning was narrowed to the chin hair, that is the beard.
Ivan Sache, 11 November 2004
Mr. Renato Turcinov from Pula pointed me out the error that it
may well be that the identification is errorneous and the word
instead of moustaches should simply be beard(s). He also noted
that the connection of the town name Barban with beards is
probably case of "popular etymology" (which is not
ususal way of canting things in herladry, anyway). The fact is
that the name of the town originates from the name of the ancient
Roman family Parpanus (according to R. Matijašic:
"Anticko naslijedje u toponimiji Istre"), says
Turcinov.
Željko Heimer, 26 November 2006
On the web site of the
community one may found two recent statutes of the community
- intersting enough with different description of the flag - and
I do not think that it is a typo - which would mean that the flag
had changed - although in quite minor way.
Namely, the 2006
statutes (article 10) describe the flag in ratio 1:2 divided
into 5:10 "modular units" - and the coat of arms is set
in it so that it is removed from the top one unit and from the
hoist two units (Rejected Project): Statut
Opcine Barban, 02.02.2006, Službene novine Opcine Barban,
br. ?/2006.
On the other hand, now in the same
article the flag is described similarly, however, how the
positioning of the coat of arms is determined to be one unit
distanced from top, bottom and hoist edge: Statut Opcine Barban,
30.07.2009, Službene novine Opcine Barban, br. ?/2009
It may be that this change was made after the insistence from the
heraldry commission of the Ministry of Administration?
Željko Heimer, 2 September 2009
The 2006 Statutes describe the flag as it was initially
adopted. It is a horizontal flag, divided into virtual squares of
5×10, with the coat of arms removed from the top 1 units, and
from the hoist 2 units. The text does not mention the distance
from the bottom edge.
However, the illustration I received from the community in
October 2004 showes neither - there the coat of arms is similar
to the 2006 statues description, but not entirely so: there the
coat of arms is about 3/4 of a far from the top and 1.5 units
from the hoist, just as I showed before.
Željko Heimer, 4 September 2009
I received answers to my inquiry to the community regarding
the adoption decision and approval from the Ministry. The
community readily answered, so we now get the names of the
documents and adoption dates. The coat of arms and the flag were
formally adopted only on 28 November 2006, after they were
approved by the Central State Office for Administration (as the
equivalent of the Ministry of Administration was called then) on
3rd May 2006. As a reminder - the coat of arms and the previous
flag with it in the canton were adopted in 2004, although no
formal adoption decision was issued in the official gazette,
waiting for the approval. When the new statutes were adopted in
2009, the description of the flag was then adapted accordingly.
Sources: Odluka o grbu i zastavi Opcine Barban, 28.11.2006,
Službene novine Opcine Barban, br. 10/2006, 29.11.2006, str.
252-254 Rješenje Središnjeg državnog ureda za
upravu, Klasa: UP/I-017-01/04-01/64, Urbroj: 515-10/06-06-4,
03.05.2006.
As I suggested previously, I suspect that the change in the flag
was made after the suggestion (or request) of the heraldic
commission of the Central State Office for Administration.
Željko Heimer, 11 September 2009
I recevied an answer from the community regarding the two
versions of the flag. I was right assuming that the change of
position of the coat of arms in the flag was made after the
request from the central authorities. Also, they told me that the
first flag design was never actually produced, they made flags
only after they received approval from theCentral State Office
for Administration. So the flag with the coat of arms is only an
adopted project eventually rejected.
Željko Heimer, 17 September 2009
image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004
pn-bb.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004
Previous Coat of Arms
pnbb9.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 3 August 2008
Pre-2004 version of the community coat of arms, based on the
drawing available in "Barbanski glasnik" local bulletin
from <www.barban.hr>.
Željko Heimer, 3 August 2008