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Žiri (Municipality, Slovenia)

Municipal flag of Žiri, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Željko Heimer, 22 October 2002

Presentation of Žiri
Municipal flag of Žiri
Coat of arms of Žiri

See also:

Presentation of Žiri

The municipality of Žiri was formed in 1995. Altough a small town, Žiri is a large industrial center. Not only the widely known sportswear factory is situated there (Alpina, known mainly for the ski shoes), but other as well.

Željko Heimer, 12 April 2000

Municipal flag of Žiri

The flag and arms of Žiri are prescribed by Decision Odlok o istovetnosti simbolih Občine Žiri, adopted on 6 December 2000, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 26/2001.

The symbols were designed by Valt Jurečič of Heraldika d.o.o. and Heraldica Slovenica, who kindly provided drawings from which the images shown on this page were made.

The flag is rectangular, in proportions 2:5, with a blue square hoist part containing the three yellow beechnuts from the coat of arms and a fly end horizontally divided yellow-blue-yellow.

The attachement to the Decision gives the following colour specifications:
- Yellow: Pantone Yellow
- Dark yellow: Pantone 116
- Green: Pantone 355
- Blue: Pantone 293
- Red: Pantone 185
- Black: Pantone Black

Željko Heimer, 25 June 2006

Coat of arms of Žiri

Coat of arms of Žiri - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 October 2002

The coat of arms of Žiri is "Divided per fess wavy argent, in chief vert three beechnuts or and in base azure a lintvern or".
The lintvern is a kind of a dragon connected to the earthquake legends. Beechnuts (in Slovene, žiri") recalls the name of the municipality.

In 1997 the municipality organized a referendum to decide on the municipal holyday and symbols, the call for referendum being issued as Odlok o razpisu zakonodajnega referenduma o dolocitvi praznika Občine Žiriin dolocitvi njenih simbolov, adopted on 22 October 1997, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije 67/1997 on 30 October 1997.
The referendum was scheduled for 23 November 1997.
The question on the referendum included the description of the proposed coat of arms as:

Blue lintvern on silver field holding in paws a beech branch with a beechnut and two beech leaves.

What is a lintvern? There seems to be several small rivers called that name, it seems it is also a name of some noble family and there is a rock band bearing that name, but all that seems rather farfetched. Finally I found in one page mention of a legend (quite unrelated otherwise) mentioning a dragon sleeping underground, the dragon being called locally lintvern, and that dragon having a long tail whose moves result in floods. Anyway, the name looks related to a known heraldic beast - namely the wyvern, that is also kind of a dragon with a long tail. So, we can guess that the coat of arms of Žiri includes some heraldic beast similar to a wyvern.

There is no mention of a flag in the referendum call.

Željko Heimer, 22 October 2002