City of Dorfen (Erding County, Bavaria, Germany)

Stadt Dorfen

Last modified: 2004-12-29 by santiago dotor
Keywords: bavaria | dorfen | stadt dorfen | erding county | coat of arms (houses: white) | coat of arms (houses: 3) |
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by Marcus Schmöger Flag used unofficially since c.1954

• Description
• Variant without Coat-of-Arms

See also:

• Erding County (Kreis Erding, Bavaria, Germany)
• County and Municipal Flags (Bavaria / Bayern, Germany)
• Bavaria (Bayern, Germany)
• Germany

Other sites:

• Dorfen Town Flag at Marcus Schmöger's The Arms and Flags of the Landkreis Erding website

The first seal of Dorfen dates from 1374 and already shows the arms that are in used nowadays (blazon: Azure, three houses two and one Argent, roofed Or). However, the colours are not really clear: until the beginning of the 20th century the roofs were painted red, since at least the 1950's a variant of the arms was used, that showed a shield per bend sinister Azure and Gules. The colours of the flag are blue and red; they are derived from the blue field of the arms and either the red roofs or the red colour in the arms variant. The flag has not been adopted officially, since the unheraldic combination of blue and red would not have been approved by the authorities. It is not totally clear, since when the flag is in use. The claim by the town Dorfen, in a 1964 letter, that "blue and red exist demonstrably for about 150 years", is almost certainly wrong. It is probable that the flag was used for the first time in the years after 1954, when Dorfen was promoted from a Markt (market-town) to a Stadt (town). The flag is used with and without the arms.

Marcus Schmöger, 2 April 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:

The three houses are a canting symbol, Dorf means village. The three houses already appear on the oldest known seal of Dorfen, dating from the 14th century. All later seals and images show the houses. The shape, size and colour, however varies widely. In the 16th century the shield was shown as silver with red roofed houses. Since 1812 the blue colour of Bavaria is used and the yellow colour for the roofs appears in the late 19th century.

Literature: Stadler 1964-1972.

Santiago Dotor, 11 April 2002

by Marcus Schmöger Flag used unofficially since c.1954