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Rijeka (Town, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia)

Flag of Rijeka - Image by Željko Heimer, 23 August 2002

Flag of Rijeka
Coat of arms of Rijeka
Symbols of Rijeka, 1998
Symbols of Rijeka, 1967-1998
University of Rijeka
Yacht clubs in Rijeka
- Sailing Club "3 May" (Jedriličarski klub "3. maj")
- Sailing Club of Rijeka (Jedriličarski klub "Rijeka - S.C.O.R.")
Mountaineering Club "Duga" (Planinarsko društvo "Duga" - PD "Duga")

See also:

Flag of Rijeka

The symbols of Rijeka are prescribed by Decision Odluka o izmjenama Odluke o grbu i zastavi Grada Rijeke, adopted on 26 September 1998 by the Town Assembly and published in the County official gazette Službene novine Primorsko-goranske županije, No. 24, modifying the symbols adopted a few months earlier, upon request of the Ministry of Administration.
Soon after the adoption of the new Town Statutes in 2009, the Decision was amendeded to Odluka o izmjenama i dopunama Odluke o grbu i zastavi Grada Rijeke, adopted on 23 July 2009 by the Town Assembly and published on 25 July 2009 in Službene novine Primorsko-goranske županije, No. 29, to reflect the new administrative structure of the town.
The current Town Statutes (2009) do not include the description of the symbols, just as the previous statutes, only prescribing their existence and a separate Decision to regulate them. In the Town Assembly when the new Statutes were discussed (news), an opposition party proposed that the descriptions were included in the Statutes as well, but the ruling party and the Mayor opposed, explaining that this was not necessary.

The symbols were designed by the Heraldic Art d.o.o. company, from Rijeka.

The flag is in proportions 1:2, blue with the coat of arms, bordered yellow, in the middle.

Željko Heimer, 6 December 2009

Coat of arms of Rijeka

Coat of arms of Rijeka - Image by Željko Heimer, 23 August 2002

The coat of arms is described in the aforementioned Decision as "In an oval shield gules a double-headed eagle sable both heads looking to sinister with raised wings beaked and membered or and langued gules standing with its dexter on a cliff and its sinister holding an amphora proper from which is pouring water filling the space around the cliff".
This is a stylization of the coat of arms granted on 6 June 1659 by the Croatian King and Austrian Emperor Leopold I. This coat of arms is a reference to Rijeka (lit., "river") and to the short, swift river Rječina for which the town is named.

Željko Heimer, 12 September 2009

Symbols of Rijeka, 1998

Flag and arms of Rijeka, 1998 - Image by Željko Heimer, 6 March 2005

The previous symbols of Rijeka were prescribed by Decision Odluka o grbu i zastavi Grada Rijeke, adopted on 26 March 1998 by the Town Assembly and published on 31 March 1998 in Službene novine Primorsko-goranske županije, No. 24.

The flag is prescribed as a tricolor of red (dark carmine) over yellow (dark goldish yellow) over blue (ultramarine) with the coat of arms in the middle.
As it was a separate "crown-land" under the Hungarian crown, separated from Croatian background to serve as Hungarian port town, Rijeka had its own landesfarben, a three-striped flag based on the coat of arms. The colour order is quated differently in several sources as blue over red over yellow and red over yellow over blue. However, it seems that the last variant was more popular, even if possibly the first one may be more according to the letter of law.

The coat of arms includes the Austrian Imperial crown above the eagles' heads with two blue ribbons attached to it. Below the shield is a white ribbon inscribed "INDEFICIENTIER".

Željko Heimer, 12 September 2009

Symbols of Rijeka, 1967-1998

Flag and arms of Rijeka, 1967-1998 - Image by Željko Heimer, 6 March 2005

The symbols used in the Socialist period were adopted after a competition held in 1967. The winning proposal was made by Dorian Sokolić (1928-2005), a painter and scenographer in several theatres in Rijeka, Novi Sad and in various theatres in Europe, also Commissioner of the Croatian National Theatre in Rijeka, 1969-1980. The type-written sheet explaining the proposal says:

Idea: Rječina, the flow of which in history divided the two banks connects them today in a singular unit - the town of Rijeka.
Shape: the basic shape recalls the cross section of a ship's hull and the classic form of old coats of arms. In the middle is an amphora from which water is flowing as a symbol of endless movement and flow of life. At the same time this is also the oldest symbol of this town.
Colours: Blue - reflection of the sea and the sky; Golden - richness of the town in the past, present and the future.
Flag: simplified contents or stylization of the flow and the delta of river Rječina.

The flag is light blue with two white trangles next to the hoist representing the flow and the delta of the Rječina river. The flag has unusual, elongated proportions, 1:4. The width of the central blue stripe is 1/4 of the hoist size and the triangles are reaching 3/5 of the length.

The coat of arms is a variation of the historical coat of arms of Rijeka in accordance to the style of the period. Neither the coat of arms nor the flag did include the red five-pointed star, otherwise a necessary element in the emblems of the period.

This flag was often hoisted often in Rijeka, together with the contemporary flags of Yugoslavia, Croatia, the Italian minority and the League of Communists. The flags were usually hoisted publicly on the lamp posts, so that each lamp post was adorned with as many as 6 or 8 flags of the same kind. While all the flags except that of Rijeka were in proportions 1:2, the flag of Rijeka preserved its unusual proportions so that it was made equally long but noticably less wide. On several places in the town the masts were also set in a line where the order of the flags was from observer's left to right: Yugoslavia - League of Communists - Croatia - Rijeka - Italian minority. Houses used the usual combinations used at the time elsewhere in the country with only three flags Croatia - Yugoslavia - League of Communists. A large flag of Rijeka was also regularly hoisted from the watchtower of the Civic Dome on the Corso in Rijeka.

These historical symbols have not been totally forgotten, even if they were formally abandoned in 1998. The coat of arms was until today used in some occasions, for instance by the Rijeka public transport company Autotrolej and in the emblem of the F.C. Rijeka. Their fans use the blue and white flags (photo) together with the historical red-yellow-blue tricolours and as well as the current flags of the town.
At the time when this flag was official, its opponents mockingly compared it with hospital pajamas.

Željko Heimer & Robert Grubiša, 30 May 2005

Yacht clubs in Rijeka

Sailing Club "3 May" (Jedriličarski klub "3. maj")

Burgee of Sailing Club "3 May" - Image by Željko Heimer, 27 June 2001

The sailing club (website) bears the same name as a big shipyard in Rijeka. I guess it was founded by the workers, and it may still be strongly connected with the company.
The burgee of the club is a triangular pennant quartered white and light blue with two white sails over the two hoist quarters.

Željko Heimer, 27 June 2001

Sailing Club of Rijeka (Jedriličarski klub "Rijeka - S.C.O.R.")

Burgee of SCOR - Image by Željko Heimer, 3 July 2001

The burgee of SCOR is a triangular pennant horizonatlly divided into purple, yellow and light blue stripes, the first being of double width with a white eight-pointed star. The shade of the upper stripe varies much in different sources from bright red to very dark purpule. The colors are based on the traditional landesfarben of Rijeka originating from the period of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Željko Heimer & José Carlos Alegria, 27 June 2001

Mountaineering Club "Duga"

Flag of PD "Duga" - Image by Ivan Sache, 20 June 2013

The mountaineering club "Guga" (laninarsko društvo "Duga" - PD "Duga"; website) was founded on 23 November 2000 in Rijeka..

The flag of PD "Duga" (photo, photo) is light blue (like the flag of Rijeka) with the club's emblem in the middle.
The emblem of PD "Duga" features a rainbow (in Croatian, duga).

Ivan Sache, 20 June 2013