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Kaspi (Municipality, Georgia)

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Flag and arms of Kaspi - Images communicated by The State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia, 25 January 2011

Presentation of Kaspi
Flag of Kaspi

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Georgia

Presentation of Kaspi

The municipality of Kaspi (15,200 inhabitants in 2002) is located in the Shida Kartli Region (eastern Georgia), serving as the center of the Kaspi District. Founded in the early Middle Ages, the town turned into possession of the Amilakhvari noble family in the 15th century. Kaspi officially acquired a municipal status in 1959.

Jens Pattke, 31 July 2010

Flag of Kaspi

The flag and arms of Kaspi are prescribed by Decree No. 35, adopted on 29 December 2009 by the Municipal Council.

The flag is red with a yellow winged beast and a yellow cross with bended horizontal arms placed in canton.
The flag is derived from the municipal coat of arms, "Gules a griffin or ensigned by a St. Nino's cross of the same. The shield surmounted by a three-towered mural crown argent fimbriated sable. Under the shield a scroll argent fimbriated sable charged with the name of the town in Georgian capital letters sable".

The colors of the arms are based on historical documents from the 18th-19th centuries, especially the two atlases published in 1745-1746 by Prince Vakhushti (Vakhushti Batonishvili, 1696-1757). The griffin is the emblem of velocity, power, courage and sobriety; in Christian iconography, the griffon embodies the heavenly and earthly - divine and human - source of Jesus Christ. The griffin is modelled here on a bas-relief from the Samtavisi church.
St. Nino (c. 300 - c. 332) is nicknamed "The Enlightener of Georgia". One of the most venerated saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Nino is said to have been a relative of St. George; she converted different rulers so that King Mirian III (c. 284 - c. 361) of Iberia (today's Kartli) adopted Christianity as the official religion c. 327. St. Nino's cross recalls that the saint is said to have visited Kaspi.

Source: The State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia (website).

The St. Nino's cross (presentation, no longer online), also known as the Grapevine cross, is the main symbol of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The legend says that Nino received it from the Blessed Virgin (or made it herself with two grapevine branches entwined with her own hair). During Persian and Turkish invasions, the holy cross was hidden in Armenia, in the Georgian mountains, and, eventually in Moscow. Upon request of Prince George Bagration, Tsar Alexander I returned the cross to Georgia in 1802. Since then, the cross has been preserved in the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi.

Ivan Sache, 2 June 2012