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Senj (Municipality, Lika-Senj County, Croatia)

Flag of Senj - Image by Željko Heimer, 6 September 2003

Flag of Senj
Coat of arms of Senj
Historical flag of Senj (14th century)
Falcon Society in Senj (early 20th century)

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Flag of Senj

The flag of Senj, as shown on a tourist leaflet released by the Town's Tourist Board around 1996 (undated), is in proportions 1:2, horizontally divided red-blue-green with the coat of arms.
The colors of the flag are taken from the coat of arms.

Both coat of arms and the flag are apparently against the general rules set up by the Ministry of Administration regarding the local symbols, but it may be that since those were adopted quite early (1993?), they were allowed to stay.

Željko Heimer, 6 September 2003

Coat of arms of Senj

Coat of arms of Senj - Image by Željko Heimer, 6 September 2003

The coat of arms pictures the patron saint of the city, St. George, killing the dragon. In the background there is the silhouette of the Fort Nehaj, made in such way as to associate to the Croatian coat of arms. The coat of arms is encircled in an ornament including floral and naval elements

Željko Heimer, 6 September 2003

Historical flag of Senj (14th century)

Historical flag of Senj - Image by Ivan Sarajčić, 2 May 2000

In her monography Monumenta Cartographica Jugoslaviae II (Historical Institute, Narodna knjiga, Belgrade, 1979), Gordana Tomović compares different 16th century naval maps of the Balkan peninsula. She notices flags above some place names on a map preserved in the Paris National Library (Maps and Plans Department) made on parchment by Angelino Dulcert (1339) [drt39]:

The flag above Senj (Segna) is verticaly divided, left field is red with an eight-pointed star, and the right field is light yellow. Similiar heraldic elements could be seen on coats of arms of Dukes Frankopan from Senj and Krk, who ruled Senj from 1271 until 1469.

Ivan Sarajčić & Željko Heimer, 17 July 2002

Historical flag of Senj - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 27 July 2007

On the map of Guillelmus Soleri, which was created on Majorca c. 1385, and nowadays is kept in the French National Library, Paris (shown in D. Wigak's Historic maritime maps used for historic exploration 1290-1699, Parkstone Press, New York), the flag of Senj has a very oblong form, with the gold field much larger than the red one, and the star is white. This colour combination is actually the one which was described and depicted in Libro del conoscimiento de los reinos [f0f05].

Tomislav Todorović, 27 July 2007

Historical flag of Senj - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 4 October 2006

The flag of Senj from the Catalan Atlas differs from the one from the map of Angelino Dulcert in replacing the star with a disc and yellow colour with gold. The shape is a square which extends into a short, wide tongue with concave top and bottom edges. The disc might have been the result either of the cartographer's inability to draw a very small star, or of his insufficient knowledge of the descriptions from Libro del conoscimiento de los reinos, as the flag of Senj is described there as being charged with the eight-pointed star; it is impossible to decide absolutely certainly nowadays, because the map contains many flags which are drawn according to the text, as well as those which considerably differ from their descriptions.

Tomislav Todorović, 4 October 2006