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Loški Potok (Municipality, Slovenia)

Municipal flag of Loški Potok, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Željko Heimer, 11 June 2006

Presentation of Loški Potok
Municipal flag of Loški Potok
Coat of arms of Loški Potok
Former flag and arms of Loški Potok

See also:

Presentation of Loški Potok

The municipality of Loški Potok was founded in the year 1995 by decision of the Slovene Parliament. It consists of the two local communities of Loški Potok and Draga. Before 1995, Loški Potok was a part of the municipality of Ribnica and the Draga valley was a part of the municipality of Kočevje.
The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hrib, lying under a picturesque parish church called Tabor. In Hrib there is the seat of the municipality as well as a health center, the school, a nursery-school, a bank, a post-office, a few shops and quite a few inns.

Source: Loški Potok website - no longer reachable.

Željko Heimer, 22 November 1999

Municipal flag of Loški Potok

The flag and arms of Loški Potok are prescribed by Decision Odlok o grbi, zastavi, žigih in občinskem prazniku Občine Loški Potok, adopted on 27 May 2005 and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 61/2005, on 30 June 2005. These symbols have superseded the former symbols adopted in 1995. The Decision shows images of the horizontal flag and the coat of arms.

According to Rinaldo Stanić, co-author of the most recent book on the Slovene municipal symbols [j2s05], the flag and arms sere designed by Iztok Lipovšek.

The flag is in proportions 1:3, vertically divided yellow-green (1:2), and therefore made of one yellow and two adjacent green squares. The first green square contains the bear and the axes from the coat of arms.
When hoisted vertically, the charges are rotated properly.

Željko Heimer, 22 December 2007

Coat of arms of Loški Potok

Coat of arms of Loški Potok - Image by Željko Heimer, 11 June 2006

The coat of arms of Loški Potok is "Per pile or a bear rampant sable armed gules and vert two hatchets argent in saltire".
The hatchets or lumberjack's axes (locally named plenkača) recall the history of the region, just as the bear symbolizes the woodland fauna. Following a some 150-year long tradition, the people of the region have been moving in groups to nearby regions, mostly in Croatia, to jointly cut and gather woods during winter. Such people were called Hrvatarji, which may probably be translated something like "those that are going Croating". They are described in a novel of the same name by Zofka Kveder.

Željko Heimer, 11 June 2006

Former flag and arms of Loški Potok

Former flag of Loški Potok - Images by Željko Heimer, 28 February 2006

The former flag and coat of arms of Loški Potok were prescribed in the municipal Statutes Statut Občine Loški Potok, adopted on 20 April 1995 and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 32/95. Next municipal Statutes Statut Občine Loški Potok, adopted on 26 February 1999 and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 37/99, did not change anything concerning the municipal symbols. The current Statutes Statut Občine Loški Potok, adopted on 10 November 2000 and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 117/2000, only mention that the municipality has these symbols, but it leaves details for a further Decision that seems not to have been adopted yet.

Stanič & Jakopič [j2s05] show the flag as horizontally divided green-white-green with the municipal coat of arms offset towards the hoist and upwards.

Former coat of arms of Loški Potok - Images by Željko Heimer, 28 February 2006
Left, black and white, official version
Right, coloured version, also in use

The former coat of arms of Loški Potok was prescribed as black and white, but the coloured version seems to have been in unofficial use, too. Stanič explains the coat of arms as follows. The skyline showes the city of Tabor. The log with the specific axe symbolize the local lumberjacks (see above the description of the current coat of arms).

Željko Heimer, 28 February 2006