Slovenia

Last modified: 1997-09-03 by filip van laenen
Keywords: slovenia | triglav | star | crain | kranj | steiermark | celje | ljubljana | europe |
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>From Mark Martinec

• Description of the flag
• Heraldry of Slovenia
• More about the heraldry of Slovenia
  • Triglav and linden
  • Celje - Origin of the stars
  • Ljubljana
• Future of the flag

See also:

• Shape of the mullets (star)
• Slovenian Heraldry and vexillology where you can find the address of Heraldica Slovenica, the Slovenian society for Heraldry, Genealogy and Vexillology. In addition there are a lot of images of heraldic arms as well as a page with images of the Slovenian page, and a GIF poster with all the flags and arms of the communist day Yugoslavia (Jan Engene Oskar, 1995-NOV-16)
• CIA World Factbook 1995 about Slovenia
• Slovenian Constitution

The flag and coat of arms of Slovenia were described as Constitutional Amendment 100, which was published 25 June 1991 in 'Uradni List Republike Slovenije'. I received an English translation from the Ministry of Information of Slovenia on 27 September 1991.

Constitutional Amendment C (100)

1. The coat-of-arms of the Republic of Slovenia has the form of a shield. The center of the shield occupies the shape of Triglav in white color, on a background of blue color. Underneath the image of Triglav are two blue, wavy lines, representing the sea and the rivers. Above the shape of Triglav are three golden six pronged stars, forming an inverted triangle. The shield is lined in red color. The coat-of-arms is designed according to specific geometric and color regulations.
2. The flag of the Republic of Slovenia is a white, blue and red Slovene national flag, containing the coat-of-arms of Slovenia. The proportions between the width and length of the flag are one to two. The colors of the flag are arranged in the following order: white, blue, red. Each color field occupies a third of the surface area of the flag in the lengthwise direction. The coat-of-arms occupies the upper left corner of the flag, with its upper half reaching into the white field and the lower half into the blue field of the flag.
3. The use of the coat-of-arms and the flag is regulated by law.
4. This Amendment replaces Articles 8 and 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.

From Jos Poels, 1995-JUL-10

Heraldry of Slovenia

It never really existed as a distinct entity, it seems. It was early on incorporated into the Habsburg's possessions. Modern Slovenia is made up of Crain (Krain in German, Kranjska in Slovenian), and parts of Steiermark (most of which is in Austria), and parts of Istria. The first two had the following arms: Kranj, Argent an eagle displayed Azure, crowned Or, langued and armed Gules, with a crescent checquy Or and Gules on its breast. Steiermark, Vert, a panther clymant Argent, armed and tongued Gules.

From François Velde 1995-JUN-30

This is far oversimplified and, I dare to say, even incorrect description. A brief Slovene historical overview can be found at KRPAN, Slovenian Worldwide Computer Network.

Now, regarding heralding signs. More or less each Slovene city and town has its own coat of arms (cf. the registration plates on cars now bear their icons). Most of them can be traced back to middle ages (e.g. Ptuj, Skofja Loka, Ljubljana, etc.), but some are quite recent -- those of cities which were established after WWII (e.g. Nova gorica, Murska Sobota, etc.).

Next, the national symbols and coat of arms have a bit different history. First the flag, and, more precisely, the colours in it. Historical Slovene colours in a national flag are white, blue, and red (in this order from the top to the bottom) -- note, the same order of colours is also in a Slovak and Russian flags. However, the origin of colours in Slovene flag is a bit different than, for example, in Russian one.

We have to know that the central region of Slovenia is Carniola, and its original coat of arms had a golden lion (or was it a panther?) with red claws on a blue background (cf. coat of arms of Kranj). Later, Vienna demanded, that the golden beast had to be replaced by a silver one. When these colours were transferred into colours on a flag we got the white-blue-red flag. A flag with these three plain horizontal stripes was also the official flag of Slovenia (also ``Dravska banovina'' in pre-WWII Yugoslav kingdom) up to 1945. in fact, it was used also by emigrants abroad after this time.

In 1941 started in Slovenia the resistance movement under name ``Osvobodilna fronta'' (``Liberation front'') which had the symbol:

			    O   F
			      ^
			   ^ / \ ^
			  / v   v \

So we almost came to the present day national symbols of Slovenia. Not surprisingly, the colours on the flag remain the same as before, the only problem in 1991, when the symbols were defined, was what (if anything) to put on it. Since this was also the time of reconciliation there was made a compromise:

• Communists (after WWII authorities) dropped the red star
• non-Communists (some of them even collaborators with Nazis and fascists) agreed that something has to be put on the flag (the collaborators were using plain pre-WWII flag as their insignia)

So, the agreement was to put on the flag Slovene coat of arms:
The relation between its two sides is 1:2. The coloures from top to bottom are: white, blue, and red. The stripes are going along the long side of the flag. On one quarter of flag's length from the left, where the flag is also fixed, is the coat-of-arms. Half of it lays on the white and half on the blue stripe. The relation between its height and the short side of the flag is about 11:26.

The coat of arms itself was designed in 1991 and is based on a Triglav sign: Slovene coat of arms is a white Triglav on the blue shield, which is on sides rimmed by a narrow red stripe. Under Triglav are two blue wavy lines which symbolize rivers and see of Slovenia. On the top are three six-pointed stars arranged in an inverted triangle. They are taken from the coat of arms of Counts of Celje (see above).

From Andrej Brodnik, 1995-JUN-30

In year 1943 the Liberation Front is already issuing money, with warious designs all picturing tiple peak, five pointed star, letters OF and rising sun. On money issued in 1944 there is a coat of arms in socialistic stile: round shield with short rays with triple pe ak and tree wavy lines. Wavy lines represent actually the sea (not rivers, inland Slovenia is represented by mountain). On top of the shield was a five-pointed star. That was the base for later design of coat of arms of Peoples (later Socialistic) Republic of Slovenia in Yugoslavia, with corn, linden and a band added around the round shield. When liberation movements became stronger in late 1980's they also took the sign of tiple peak and lines, in various designs, and it was no wander that the newly formed state has it now in the coat. It is worth mentioning that a golden leaf of linden was widely used also as a badge by suporters of liberational ideas. However linden didn't find its place on the new coat.

The other element of coat are three stars. They are from the coat of arms of old Slovenian family of counts of Celje (to be pronounced somthing like "Tselye" - thereof adjective form Celjski). The Celjski coat of arms was blue with three golden sixpointed stars 2:1, and is still used as a coat of arms of the town of Celje. The family was a main concurrent of Habsburgs before the empire was formed, after the violent death of the last of the Celjski counts. When the kingdom of SHS, and later Yugoslavia was formed, the coat of arms adopted by state consisted of shield trieced, with coats of Serbia, Croatia, and third one representing Slovenia. (See Yougoslavia.) This third was "Azure, a crescent Argent below three stars Or per fesse". This must be conected with "Ilirian" (Old Croatian - see on Croatian coat first right) coat Azure, a crescent Argent below the stars Or, and Celje coat.

The crescent was also used on coat of "Provinz Laibach" - Province of Ljubljana, formed of parts of Slovenia anexed by the Third Reich. The coat was a crowned eagle bearing a checkered crescent.

Zeljko Heimer, 1995-NOV-07

There are serieus attempts to change the current flag. The flag is too similar to those of Russia and Slovakia. Heraldica Slovenica, the heraldic and vexillological society of Slovenia, proposes a flag without coat of arms and the bars vertical instead of horizontal. There are political organizations and individuals who propose there own proposals. Later this year the parliament of Slovenia will decide about the flag.

From Jos Poels, 1995-JUL-10