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Slavonski Brod-Posavina County (Croatia)

Brodsko-Posavska županija

image by Željko Heimer, 8 November 2000ž

Overview
Coat of Arms

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Collection of Croatian Local Flags at FAME

Overview

Most of thecounties of Croatia (but not all of them) are named with two parts, one being the name of the capital and the other the name of the wider region. The capital of Brodsko-posavska zupanija is Slavonski Brod (by the way, Bosanski Brod is on the other bank of the Sava river in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and there are several "Brods" in Czeck Republic and Slovakia). Posavina means the region around Sava, and that, of course, is a region larger than the county itself.
The flag is blue with two white diagonal stripes from upper hoist to lower fly. In the middle there is the arms of county: Azure, wavy bar Argent, over it seven mullets Or 4-3, and under a marten Argent.
The image is based on the flag seen on TV news.
Željko Heimer, 8 September 1996

The flag that I posted earlier contained two mayor errors, maybe not so unusual regarding that it was based only on quick TV snaps. The erros were the number of stars (should be 5 in total, not 7) and the colour of the running marten (should be yellow, not white). The new image of the Coat of Arms (and eventually new flag image) is based on the picture of the Coat of Arms from just few days ago issued 2nd book of the Croatian encyclopedia (Hrvatska encikopedija, LZ Miroslav Krleza, Zagreb, 1999-, sv. 2: Be-Da). I still have no info on adoption date of these symbols, or on the legal documents regarding it. My esimate is that they are adopted around 1995. (I believe I've seen the flag in use (on TV) in 1996 or so, but I have no notes on that).
Željko Heimer, 8 November 2000

The web site of the Slavonski Brod-Posavina County includes now (at <www.bpz.hr>) the statutes of the County where the Coat of Arms and the flag are described: Statut Brodsko-posavske županije (procišceni tekst), 23. svibnja 2006, Službeni vjesnik Brodsko-posavske županije, br. 9/06, 21.06.2006.
This is the consolidated text including the original Statutes issued in the gazette nr. 5/94 and the subsequent amendments. As far as I am aware the Coat of Arms and the flag are defined in its current form already in the first version of the Statutes, so this gives us adoption date to 1994 (my previous estimate was "around 1995").
The description fo the Coat of Arms is followed by some explanation of the symbolsic that I rephrase: The coat of arms is based on the historical coat of arms of Slavonia, showing the running marten. The single wavy bar represent river Sava. For the five six-pointed mullets it is stated that it is a "pre-heraldical Croatian symbol of man and humanity".
The description of the flag is given so waguely, that, if I would not know of the two diagonal stripes design, I would have never guessed it from the description, although very careful reading indeed proves it. :) The central blue stripe is said to represent the river Sava.the ratio is, of course, set to 1:2. The Coat of Arms is set in the middle with its height being 1/2 of the flag height.
The ceremonial flag is also defined, but simply by adding golden fringe to the "normal" flag.
Željko Heimer, 8 June 2007

On the official web site of the County of Slavonski Brod and Posavina is the agenda for the 4th session of the County Assembly, where a proposal for amendments of the original decision on the county symbols is mentioned. The decision shall be amended, probably, only reflecting some changes in the County administration, but that should reveal us also the exact dates of the original adoption of the symbols.
Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

The county issued a contest for the design of a Coat of Arms and the flag in the national newspapers "Vecernji list" at some point in 1994 after a decision to go with the contest adopted on 10 June 1994 (as mentioned in source 1) and formed a commission to run the contest. The commission held a session on 3 September 1994 decision upon the wining designs (1). The commission was headed by Dr. Jozo Meter and members were Maja Bejdic (heraldrist from the State Archives), Zdravko Tišljar (prefessor from the Art Academy; both later members of the commission of the Ministry of Administration approving Coats of Arms), Zvonimir Loncaric (painer and art director), Vesna Kalec-Klikic (etnologist) and Slavica Bešloc as secretary.
Three prizes were given out, the first one to the winning design to which I shall come back in a moment (4000 HRK, being some 550 EUR), the second prize of 2000 HRK was awarded to Pero Cimbur from Zagreb (whom we know as sucessful heraldic artist designing several Coats of Arms in 70's, 80's and 90's, and author of several flag related books [cim85], [cim87] and [cim97]) and the third of 1500 HRK to Zvonimir Balunovic a painter from Slavonski Brod. These two designs are not described in the source (1).
The winning design was made by Nenad Jalšovec, a designer from Cakovec, who proposed the design in 6 variants (differing only in used colours), however, somewhat different from the design eventually used - namely, his original proposal had a crescent instead of a running marten. The comission requited from the designer to amend the design to replace the crescent with the marten, which he obviously did, as the source (19 has his materials in attachment with the updated design equal to the currently used. The drawing there is a nice example of a drawing using heraldic hatching although from the text is obvious that other coloured depictions were also originally there.
So the County Assembly adopted the proposed design on 9 December 1994 with the County Statutes and the Descision on the use of the Coat of Arms, the flag and the name of the County (3), and then eventually the design was submitted to the Ministry of Administration for approval. The Commission for approval of the Coats of Arms decided that the design is acceptable (no wonder, as at last two persons were also those who choose the design, as I mentoned), and the Ministry issued the approval on 20 February 1996.
The consulidated text of the statutes (previously available on the county web site) made in 2006, consisting of the 1994 Statutes and its subsequent amendmends (5) did not touch the text we are interested in, I belive. The new 2009 Statutes (6) again repeats the same determinations in its articles 4 and 5.
Finally, due to the changes in the county administrative structure providing more competencies to its mayor, the assembly adopted a Decision on amendments to the 1994 Decision (7,8). The amendments are quite minor.
Sources:
1. Zakljucak o izboru najuspješnijeg idejnog rješenja znamenja Županije i o dodjeli nagrada autorima rješenja, 03.09.1994, Klasa 023-01/94-01/159, Urbroj 2178-11-01-94-1, 08.09.1994.
2. Statut Županije Brodsko-posavske, Službeni vjesnik Županije Brodsko-posavske, br. 5/1994.
3. Odluka o uporabi grba, zastave i imena županije, 09.12.1994, Službeni vjesnik Županije Brodsko-posavske, br. ?/1994.
4. Rješenje Ministarstva uprave, Klasa UP/I-017-02-95-01/51, Urbroj 515-04-03/1-95-2, 20.02.1996.
5. Statut Brodsko-posavske županije (procišceni tekst), 23.05.2006, Službeni vjesnik Brodsko-posavske županije, br. 9/2006, 21.06.2006.
6. Statut Brodsko-posavske županije, 16.07.2009, Službeni vjesnik Brodsko-posavske županije, br. 10/2009, 29.07.2009.
7. Dnevni red 4. sjednice Županijske skupštine, 19.11.2009,
8. Odluka o izmjenama i dopunama Odluke o uporabi grba, zastave i imena županije, 23.11.2009, Službeni vjesnik Brodsko-posavske županije, br. 17?/2009. (not yet on-line, probably shall be soon at <www.bpz.hr>.
Željko Heimer, 12 December 2009

Coat of Arms

image by Željko Heimer, 8 November 2000