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Barban (Istria County, Croatia)

Opc'ina Barban

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004

Overview
Coat of Arms

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Collection of Croatian Local Flags at FAME

Overview

I have been contacted recently by the mayor of Barban, a community in the Istria County, informing me of the recently adopted and approved coat of arms and flag. Barban is located in central-eastern part of Istria, some 30 km NE of Pula. The community counts just over 3,000 inhabitants, though the town of the same name is no more the 1/10 of that number. The coat of arms of the community of Barban is a historical coat of arms of Barban: or a bar vert in chief three moustaches sable and in base a bridge gules over water azure. The moustaches, locally called barbe cant the name of the town. The flag is red with the coat of arms off-set to hoist and towards top. Before the adoption of this modernized design Barban was using a more traditional representation of the coat of arms topped with a golden civic crown and with two oak branches binded with a golden ribon below. This artwork must have been used since mid-1990's.
Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004

In French, the word barbe, coming from Latin barba, was originally used to designate the facial hair; progressively, its meaning was narrowed to the chin hair, that is the beard.
Ivan Sache, 11 November 2004

Mr. Renato Turcinov from Pula pointed me out the error that it may well be that the identification is errorneous and the word instead of moustaches should simply be beard(s). He also noted that the connection of the town name Barban with beards is probably case of "popular etymology" (which is not ususal way of canting things in herladry, anyway). The fact is that the name of the town originates from the name of the ancient Roman family Parpanus (according to R. Matijašic: "Anticko naslijedje u toponimiji Istre"), says Turcinov.
Željko Heimer, 26 November 2006

Coat of Arms

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004

Previous Coat of Arms

image by Željko Heimer, 2 November 2004