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Federal City of Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

Bundesstadt Bonn, former German federal capital, ehemalige Bundeshaupstadt

Last modified: 2008-08-23 by jarig bakker
Keywords: north rhine-westphalia | nordrhein-westfalen | bonn | stadt bonn | bundesstadt bonn | coat of arms: lion (passant guardant) | coat of arms: lion (yellow) | coat of arms: chief (cross) |
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[Federal City of Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)] 3:5
by Stefan Schwoon
Coat-of-arms adopted 1971

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Description

Yellow with thin red stripes at the top and bottom edges with the arms in the center. Sources: Staack 1997 and the FlagDataBank website.

Stefan Schwoon, 22 February 2001

I found the city statutes (Hauptsatzung) available at the city website:

Hauptsatzung der Bundesstadt Bonn
Vom 1. Juli 1996 (...)
§ 4 (...)
(2) Das Wappen zeigt in geteiltem Schild oder in Silber (weiß) ein schwarzes Kreuz, unten in Rot einen schreitenden, herschauenden, goldenen (gelben) Löwen.
(3) Die Flagge ist gold(gelb)-rot. Die breite goldene (gelbe) Mittelbahn wird von zwei schmalen roten Bahnen begleitet. Die Flagge zeigt in der Mittelbahn das Wappen.
The part about the flag simply says that the red stripes are schmal (thin), so no particular proportion is specified and the 1:6:1 used in the above image is only one possible interpretation of that.

Stefan Schwoon, 5 April 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:

Bonn received city rights probably in the early 13th century. The oldest seal, known since 1250, shows the patron saint, St. Cassius, depicted as a knight. The next seal, dating from the 14th century, shows the cross of Köln and the lion. The area was part of the diocese of Köln. The lion is a symbol for the old Dingstuhl or justice-place. The lion is often named Wölfchen (little wolf) or Leopard and is sometimes shown standing on a boar. On the ante-seals of the city only the lion is shown.

The colours have changed through the years, first the lion was red and the field was either silver or gold, changed to blue from 1732 until 1971 and finally in 1971 the present colours were granted. The lion also changed from looking to the right to looking to the viewer in 1971.

Literature: Stadler 1964-1971 and Nagel 1986.

Santiago Dotor, 18 December 2001