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Prijedor (Town, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Приједор

Presentation of Prijedor
Coat of arms of Prijedor
Former symbols of Prijedor
- Earlier coat of arms of Prijedor

See also:

Presentation of Prijedor

The Town of Prijedor (112,543 inhabitants in 1991, 833 sq. km; 34,635 inh. in the town proper) is located in the Bosnian Krajina, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ivan Sache, 15 February 2009

Coat of arms of Prijedor

Coat of arms of Prijedor - Image by Željko Heimer, 13 January 2014

The coat of arms of Prijedor is prescribed by Statutary Decision Odluka o promjeni Statuta Grada Prijedora, adopted on 8 May 2013 by the Town Assembly and published on 9 May 2013 in the Town official gazette Službeni glasnik Grada Prijedora, No. 6.

The coat of arms is described as follows:

The coat of arms of the town has a shield shape, with mild lines. The background of the shield in the colours of the flag of Republika Srpska. Within the shield, in the top part there is a white symbol representing the sun and the Kozara monument shape. In the central part there is a blue symbol, its top concave part represents [mount] Kozara while its bottom wavy part represents river the Sava river. In the bottom part there is a black symbol of flowering letter "P" - the initial of Prijedor.
The symbols represent:
- the sun, Kozara, Sava - the natural environment of work and life; - letter "P" - the Town of Prijedor, villages, settlements, mines, factories, cultural institutions, schools, homes, and their inhabitants;
- the sun - the source of life, the Kozara monument, great sacrifices, war and suffering, but also great victories of a generation and our bright future
The coat of arms may be used in ceremonial and other circumstances, while the approval for its use in other occasions is granted by the Mayor.

The previous coat of arms was challenged in 2003 by the Chairman fo the Town Assembly in 2003 as unconstitutional, since it includes the Serb symbol of cross with firesteels. The Constitutional Court of Republika Srpska ruled in 2006 that this was so and ordered it changed, but it took several years for the deicsion to be implemented locally.
The new design, adopted on 8 May 2013 by the Town Assembly (news report), is virtually the same as the pre-1990s design, except in the colours of the top field, now red with a white sun), previously white with a red sun.

In the same session, the Town Assembly adopted the initiative that the coat of arms is to be changed yet again. The proposal (photo) depicts the Kozara monument from a side view. However, the town officials told that this would require approval by the designer of the monument designer, Dušanj Džamonja, that his by his hears, as he passed away some years ago. Therefore the proposed change, while, in principle, supported by all parties in the Assembly, has been postponed for some time.

Željko Heimer & Marko Vitez, 15 January 2014

Former symbols of Prijedor

Former flag and arms of Prijedor - Images by Željko Heimer, 23 January 2013

The former flag of Prijedor (municipal website, photo no longer online) is light blue with the former coat of arms in the middle, surmonting the name of the municipality in black Cyrillic and Latin script.

The former coat of arms of Prijedor was prescribed in Article 2 of Decision Odluka o utvrđivanju grba opštine Prijedor, adopted on 30 November 2005 by the Municipal Assembly and published on 1 December 2005 in the Municipal official gazette Službeni glasnik opštine Prijedor, No. 11 (text), as follows:

The coat of arms of the Municipality depicts its historical and cultural values. The coat of arms of the Municipality has a shield shape with mild lines. The background of the shield in the top part, above the symbol of mount Kozara and river Sava is red, and in the lower part white. Within the shield, in the top part, is a cross with four golden yellow firesteels.
In the front part, coloured blue, there are depicted contours of Kozara and Sava.
In the lower part, on a white background is a symbol coloured blue in shape of a flowering letter "P"* - the initial of the town's name.
The entire symbol of the coat of arms is edged with a blue line.

*It is not explicitly stated if the initial "P" is in Latin or Cyrillic (П) script; from the design, it seems rather obvious that the Latin "P" letter (twice, addorsed) is meant.

The blazon of the coat of arms is "Divided per fess azure top enarched bottom wavy into gules a cross with four firesteels or and argent two letters 'P' also azure addorsed". It is quite obvious that the Municipality (and later Town) of Prijedor has been using the same coat of arms since the 1990s.
Some variations in colours can be observed. In the header of the municipal gazette, the cross emblem is shown in white and not gold, while in many examples the flowering initial is shown in black instead of blue.

The commission in charge of the design of the coat of arms was appointed by Resolution Rješenje o imenovanju Komisije za spovođenje postupka utvrđivanj grba Opštine, praznika Opštine i promjene naziva pojedinih ulica, adopted on 29 September 2005 and published on 30 September 2005 in Službeni glasnik opštine Prijedor, No. 8 (text).

Željko Heimer, 23 January 2013

Earlier coat of arms of Prijedor

Former coat of arms of Prijedor - Image by Željko Heimer, 23 January 2013

The coat of arms used in Prijedor before 1992 must have been adopted in the 1980s. It contains the same elements as the today's arms - shield shape, (light) blue Kozara-Sava shape, addorsed letters "P" (slightly differently stylized); however, the top part is white and the symbol there is a red sun with rays, stylized to remind of a five-pointed star.

Željko Heimer, 23 January 2013