Last modified: 2008-07-05 by dov gutterman
Keywords: bjelovar | bilogora | croatia | zupanija | bjelovarsko-bilogorska | bjelovar-bilogora county |
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image by Željko Heimer, 22 October 2000
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The County of Bjelovar - Bilogora is situated east from
Zagreb, in middle Croatia. The arms consist of St. Andrew's
cross, image of St. George slaying the dragon and chequy field of
Croatia. This is the same arms as were given to Bjelovar county
in 1871, when it was formed from regions that were removed from
Military Frontier (known as Varazdin Frontier).
Željko Heimer
I have bought a book: Csa'ki, Imre: A magyar
kira'lysa'g va'rmegyéinek ci'merei a XVIII-XIX. sza'zadban,
Corvina, Budapest, 1995 , in which are shown (one big coat of
arms in each page!) all the coats of arms of the counties of the
Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the XVIII. and
XIX. centuries.
"Belovar-Körös va'rmegye" [Bjelovar-Krizevci County]:
a woman of justice [that is a woman with a ribbon on the eyes,
holding a sword in the right hand and here a sheet of paper in
the left hand] with green clothes holding two shields: dexter:
divided per fess: 1- chappé courbé [divided in three filed the
one in the middle forming a sort of curved triangle]: a- azure a
crowned lion head or; b- vert a running marten natural; c-
chequered of 25 argent and gules; 2- divided per pal: a- argent a
part of a pond in white with reed and grass natural and a duck
taking flight also natural; b- gules a lion or on a crown also
or. On the whole an inescutcheon gules a latine cross argent
between the letters M and T or [Maria Theresia]. sinister:
divided per fess: 1- divided per pal: a- azure Saint George
natural on a horse argent and gules fighting the dragon vert; b-
gules a clover cross in saltire; 2- chequered of 18 [6 x 3]
argent and gules. Above the whole, there is a royal crown or.
Under the whole there is a ribbon argent fimbriated azure with
the words or « JUSTITIA » « CLEMENTIA ».
The coat of arms was adopted in 1897. The coat of arms of the
Bielovar part [former Bielovar county (?)] was adopted in 1872.
Pascal Vagnat, 28 June 1998
I should mention a book that was issued just these days - the
second book of the Croatian Encyclopedia (Hrvatska Encikopedija,
Leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleza, Zagreb, 1999-; 2. Be-Da,
2000). Under the title "Bjelovarsko-Bilogorska
zupanija" there is image of the CoA together with a short
presentation (actually being only three sentences or so). There
is no mention of the flag, and the CoA is shown in grayscale (and
a bit vertically distorted). However, I guess that such a book
shall become quite a reference in future, and that it is worth of
mentioning. Few pages latter on there is the article on
"Brodsko-posavska zupanija" and none other have as yet
come in the alphabetic order. Anyway, here is what's there about
BBC (my translation):
"Bjelovar and Bilogora County, administrative unit in
norhtern part of Croatia. Encompases the valley of the rivers
Cesma [C<esma] and Ilova, between Bilogora in north and
Moslavina mountain in south; 2647 km2, 144 042 inhabitants."
The article is ending with naming all the cities and communities
in the county, that I omit here
Željko Heimer, 22 October 2000
The County is situated east from Zagreb, in central Croatia, one of the two counties not having state border. The area of the county was part of the Military Frontier as Bulwark agains Ottoman empire since middle age. It was mainly the area of so called "Varazdin Frontier", as it was manned mainly by people from Varazdin region, and the unit under whose responsibility it was, was the 6th Varaz<din - Saint George's regiment.
image by Željko Heimer, 16 July 1999
The region was removed from Military Frontier and rejoined
with civilian Croatia in 1872 (or in 1871 according to other
source), when the County of Bjelovar (Bjelovarska z<upanija,
Belov/ar va/rmegye, Komitat Belovar) was formed and the coat of
arms granted by empiror Franz Joseph I: trierced, 1. Azure, Saint
Gorge killin the dragon, 2. Gules, a saltire botonny Argent, 3.
chequy Gules and Argent 5x3.
The flag of the county from that period is preserved in Croatian
Historic Museum. It is not pictured on their site, nor in the
catalogue of the flag exhibition held in 1996. However, there is
a description there: reoughly square RWB tricolour with stripes
ending in triangular tails, with light blue square in the middle
containing the coat of arms of the county with helmet with crest
in figure of Justice (Justitia) holding sword and scales.In 1886
the county was joined with the County of Krizevci
(Kriz<evac<ka z<upanija, Ko//ro:s va/rmegye, Komitat
Kreuz). The new coat of arms was made (officially in 1897) simply
by showing both arms side by side in two shields, held by
Justitia, with motto "Justitia - Clementia".
image by Željko Heimer, 16 July 1999
ah-bk.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
The flag of this county from 1903 is also preserved (in Museum
in Bjelovar), being red rectange with golden ornamented border,
the coat of arms in the middle and inscription in gold embroidery
with name of the county above and year 1903 below the coat of
arms. (The photo of the flag
was available on B-B county pages which were moved some time ago.
The CoA of Krizevci county is seen on the combined county flag of
1903 at hoist side. That hoist shield was granted in 1759 by
Maria Theresia.
When the counties were reintroduced in 1993, the most of the
county of Bjelovar (of 1872) was found in the County of Bjelovar
and Bilogora. The right to bear the same historical coat of arms
was recognized, but new flag was made (according to mder patter
prescribed by Croatian laws). On 12 December 1995 the county
assembly made the Decision on the coat of arms and the flag
(source 1) where the coat of arms is described as such:
"...simple shield divided horzontally in two. The upper part
is divided in two equal fields. In the first on blue background
there is figure of St. George on horse killing the dragon. The
figure is white with red cloak, while the dragon is green. In
second field is on red background white Andrew's cross. On lower
half is a part of Croatian historical coat of arms of five
horizontal and three vertical red-white pieces, with first piece
being red."The flag is bicolour, golden yellow above green
of equal width [height!], with the coat of arms in the middle of
the flag on both sides
The decision bacame valid eight days after publication in
official papers (unfortunately I do not have that date).
That CoA and flag was approved by the Ministry of Administration
on 19 April 1996 (source 2) and a new decision on the CoA and
flag was adopted on 29 May 1996 confirming the previous design,
and adding the usage details prescriptions (source 3). One should
notice that the CoA horizontal division does not lay on the
bisecton of the flag, but a little above it. Also, in comparison
to my previously sent images, the coat of arms is considerably
larger (and according to my measuremnt of the image accompanying
the source 3, the height of the CoA is 7/10 of the hoist size).
Also, the decision nowhere mentiones that the Andrew's cross in
couped and bottony (is that right expression?), but on all
depictions (including historical images) it is so.
Sources:
1. Odluka o grbu i zastavi Županije bjelovarsko-bilogorske,
12. prosinca 1995. (Decision on the coat of arms and the flag of
the Counyt of Bjelovar and Bilogora, 12-DEC-1995)
2. Rješenje Ministarstva uprave, Kl. UP/I-017-02/96-01/28,
Ur. br. 515-04-03/1-96-1, Zagreb, 19. travnja 1996. (Apporval of
Ministry of Administration, 19-APR-1996).
3. Odluka o opisu grba i zastave, kao i uvjetima načina uporabe
grba i zastave Županije bjelovarsko-bilogorske, 29. svibnja
1996. (Decision on the coat of arms and the flag, and on
conditions of usage of the coat of arms and the flag of the
County of Bjelovar and Bilogora, 29_MAY-1996)
4. Jelena Borosak - Marijanovic, Flags trough the centuries,
Catalogue of Museum Collection, Flags and Flag Streamers,
Hrvatski povijesni muzej, Zagreb, 1996.
5. Csaky, Imre "A magyar kiralysag varmegyeinek cimerei. A
XVIII-XIX. Szazadban", Corvina, Budapest, 1995. ISBN
963-13-4234-4
6. Zupanija bjelovarsko-bilogorska (official web site-currantly
unavailible) <alf.tel.hr/zbb>,
consulted Dec-1997.
7. Željko Heimer: The FAME.
Željko Heimer, 16 July 1999
bj.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 22 October 2000
