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Stari Mikanovci (Municipality, Vukovar-Srijem County, Croatia)

Last modified: 2014-03-01 by ivan sache
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[Municipality flag]

Flag of Stari Mikanovci - Image by Željko Heimer, 30 August 2008


See also:


Presentation of Stari Mikanovci

The municipality of Stari Mikanovci (3,387 inhabitants in 2001) is located some 40 km west of Vukovar. The municipality is made of the villages of Stari Mikanovci proper (2,710 inh.) and Novi Mikanovci (677 inh.).

Željko Heimer, 30 August 2008


Flag of Stari Mikanovci

The symbols of Stari Mikanovci are described in the Municipality Statutes Statut Općine Stari Mikanovci, adopted on 13 July 2009 by the Municipality Assembly and published on 31 December 2009 in the County official gazette Službeni vjesnik Vukovarsko-srijemske županije, No. 25 (text).

The flag is prescribed in Article 6 of the Statutes as in proportions 1:2, blue with the coat of arms, bordered white, in the middle.

Željko Heimer & Pascal Gross, 12 August 2012


Coat of arms of Stari Mikanovci

[Municipality coat of arms]

Coat of arms of Stari Mikanovci - Image by Željko Heimer, 30 August 2008

The coat of arms is prescribed in Article 5 of the Statutes as "a golden/yellow split vessel in blue on a green bottom".
The vessel shown is an ancient vessel from the Vučedol culture (3000 - 2300 BC) found in Mikanovci.
The coat of arms was designed by Antonio Grgić, of Pikant Marketing.

Quoting the paper "The last municipality without its official symbols in the Vukovar-Srijem County, Stari Mikanovci, granted a coat of arms and a flag", published on 29 December 2007 by M. Ban in the regional newspaper Glas Slavonije.

The municipality of Stari Mikanovci was one of the few units of local self-government in Croatia without its coat of arms and flag, because the proposal for the coat of arms, designed some ten years ago, was rejected by the State Commission and since then the question was not raised by anyone. The current Assembly, headed by Mayor Tadija Orlović, actualized the issue of inexistence of the coat of arms and a company from Koprivnica was hired and designed a proposal.
- It was our wish that in the Mikanovci's coat of arms is not [sic] included the St. Bartholomew (Sv. Bartol) church; the proposal was to include it in the central part of the coat of arms, since it is an unique historical, cultural and architectural monument of which Mikanovci people are so proud of. That proposal was refused by the Commission in the State Archives*, with explanation that there are already too many coats of arms displaying castles, towers, churches and other buildings - Mayor Orlović explained to us.
Therefore they decided for another also very valuable and recognizable characteristic of Mikanovci - a two-fold vessel of the Vučedol culture from the period between 3000 and 2300 BC.
- This valuable archaeological finding was located in ruins in Stari Mikanovci when the elementary school was being built, and it symbolizes the long lasting settlement of the area - Orlović says.
The vessel is golden, symbolizing the golden-yellow wheat fields and the sun obove the plains. The vessel stands on a hill symbolizing the ruins of Stari Mikanovci in which it was found, but also the hill of Novi Mikanovci, upon which is located the St. Bartholomew church.
- The green hill is the symbol of fields in spring, meadows and centuries-old Slavonian woods, and the blue background is the sky above the Slavonian plains. The same blue is in the flag, in the centre of which is coat of arms set - Orlović concludes.
*The Commission is not organized in the State Archives but in the Central State Office for the Administration, although the State Archives are required to provide an advice and at least one member in the Commission is from the State Archives.

An interview with the Mayor of Stari Mikanovci, Proračun za 2006. najuspješniji unazad četrnaest godina, published on 27 April 2007 in Vinkovački list, mentions the activities on the adoption of the municipality symbols. The Mayor mentions this an important project in progress, as the municipality is "among only a few" without its symbols. He states that the proposal was made some 10 years ago, but was rejected by the State Commission. The issue was not taken into consideration until "this Executive Board was formed". He recounts: "As it is the task of the Mayor to initiate the process, I activated it and we hired a company from Korpivnica. Also, I consulted the State Archives and was hoping that we would have the coat of arms presented for the Municiplaity Day. Unfortunately, we were not successful with that, but I may say that soon we shall have the official coat of arms and it shall, most probably, include the double vessel of the Vučedol culture."

Željko Heimer, 15 August 2012


Table flag of Stari Mikanovci

[Municipality coat of arms]

Table flag of of Stari Mikanovci - Image by Željko Heimer, 30 August 2008

The table flag (photo) is light blue bordered white with a triangular ending, with the coat of arms in the middle bordered white, the name of the municipality inscribed above yellow and a branch of oak and a bunch of maize in the base.

Željko Heimer, 30 August 2008


Former symbols of Stari Mikanovci

In the article Natjeaj za grb i zastavu, published on 1 October 1993 in Vinkovački list (scan), M. Pavković reports the session of the Municipality Magistrate, held some unnamed day prior to the publishing. It is stated that the public competition for the design of the flag and arms had been initiated, with 15 November 1993 as the deadline; the proposals were to be evaluated by a commission that had been appointed.
Article Naše riči, published on 9 January 1998 in Vinkovački list (scan) presents the book of the same name by Martin Jakšić, also "the author of the official coat of arms and flag of the municipality of Stari Mikanovci". This earlier design was adopted but rejected by the central authorities and never published.

Article Mikanovci dobili grb i zastavu, published on 31 December 2007 in Vinkovački list (scan), presents the newly adopted symbols. The Mayor provides some hints to what the previous design might have looked like:

I must state that we are all sorry that the Church of St. Bartholomew is not included in the coat of arms, as this was indeed our proposal. The church is a unique historical, cultural and architectural monument of which the people of Mikanovci are so proud. It was rejected in the State Archives Comission claiming that there are already way too many coats of arms with castles, towers, churchs and other buildings.

Željko Heimer, 15 August 2012