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City of Bonn (Germany)

Bundesstadt Bonn, former German Federal Capital, Northrhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2012-09-23 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: bonn | cross(black) | lion | passant |
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[Federal City of Bonn (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)] 3:5  image by Stefan Schwoon, 5 Apr 2001
Coat-of-arms adopted 1971

See also:

Introduction to Bonn city

The Bonn City flag is described as 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 Feb 2001

I found the city statutes (Hauptsatzung) available at the city website on 1 July 1996. These statutes say the flag is yellow-red; the wide yellow center stripe is accompanied by two narrow red stripes. In the center are the Bonn Arms. It is described as: argent a cross sable, a base gules a lion passant caboshed or. The statues simply say that the red stripes are thin (schmal), so no particular proportion is specified and the 1:6:1 used in the above image is only one possible interpretation of that.
According to the city 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.

Sources:
1) Stadler 1972
2) Nagel 1986.
3) Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms.
Stefan Schwoon, 5 Apr 2001

Downtown Pennant of Bonn
Wimpel Bonn Kernstadt

[Bonn Downtown pennant] image from Erich Egmont, 18 Feb 2010

This is a pennant version of the Town Flag of Bonn (Flagge Bonn Kernstadt) or "Bonn Downtown Flag."
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 28 July 2011

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