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Olsztyn city (Poland)

Warmińsko-mazurskie vojvodship

image by Jens Pattke, 17 Jan 2006
adopted ?

Olsztyn city flag
Olsztyn city Coat of Arms

See also:

Olsztyn city flag

At this site I found the flag of the city of Olsztyn in the Polish voivodship of Warminsko-Mazurskie. Olsztyn (German: Allenstein) is the capital of the voivodship.
The City of Olsztyn has the status of a county. Olsztyn county leads so far no flag and no Coat of Arms.
Jens Pattke, 17 Jan 2006

The colors of the city of Olsztyn are derived from the armorial colors and are:
White - the color of the main element of the Coat of Arms - clothing of St. Jacob.
Light-blue - the color of the heraldic shield.
Gold (Yellow) - the colors of the other elements of the Coat of Arms: the pastoral and the conch.

Olsztyn's Coat of Arms - the image of the Apostle Jacob the Elder, contains one very particular element - the Conch.
The Conch - symbol of the pilgrims - is a recognizable and the main element of the city's flag being also an obvious attribute of the Saint - city patron.
At the same time it helps to distinguish the flag from, among so numerous now, municipal flag and banners in Poland.

This flag was designed by Mr. Jacek Skorupski, member of the Polish Vexillological Society.

According to the designer, the gold of the conch and the light-blue background of the flag are supplemented by the third color of the city's Coat of Arms - white. It is represented in the form of the wavy line symbolizing the water, which relates to the geographical location of the city - on the banks of the river Lyna and among 10 lakes nearby.

Proof of the flag and the details about it's use are prescribed by the Regulations of the City of Olsztyn.
Source: this webpage.
Chris Kretowicz, 18 Jan 2006

There are several other flags with the same theme:
- Chroustovice in Czechia. That flag is horizontally divided yellow over green, with in the center of yellow a red St. James shell.
The Coat of Arms is argent, St. James propre in base vert (without a shell). That is: the flag is complementary to the Coat of Arms.

- Sint Jacobiparochie in The Netherlands.
The flag: Five horizontal stripes RYRYR, proportioned 1:1:2:1:1; a blue hoist-triangle with the point at the flagcenter; in the triangle are three white St. James escalopes.
The Coat of Arms: gules St. John the Baptist and St. James or, a chief azure an escalope argent.
That is: the flag's main element is a pars-pro-toto (part representing the whole) for the Coat of Arms - like the Olsztyn flag.
Jarig Bakker, 21 Jan 2006

Olsztyn city flagproposal

image by Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 Mar 2009

There is a proposal for the new flag for the City of Olsztyn, forwarded by the civic association "Święta Warmia" (Holy Ermland), and based on the Jan Dlugosz's
rendition of the banner of the knights and citizens of the Land of Allenstein (Olsztyn) in "Banderia Prutenorum".
They claim the old flag is no good and nobody wants to associate with it.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 25 Mar 2009

Olsztyn city Coat of Arms

from this webpage.