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Pakoštane (Municipality, Zadar County, Croatia)

Flag of Pakoštane - Image by Željko Heimer, 31 July 2013

Presentation of Pakoštane
Flag of Pakoštane
Coat of arms of Pakoštane
Ceremonial flag of Pakoštane

See also:

Presentation of Pakoštane

The municipality of Pakoštane (3,884 inhabitants in 2001, 2,113 in the village of Pakoštane) is located about 30 km south-east of Zadar, between the coast and the Vransko Lake that is just a few km inland from the coast.

Željko Heimer, 3 November 2007

Flag of Pakoštane

The symbols of Pakoštane (municipal website) were designed by the Heraldic Art d.o.o. company, from Rijeka, and approved by the Ministry of Administration / Central State Office for Administration before 2006.

The flag (photo) is in proportions 1:2, light blue with the coat of arms, bordered yellow, in the middle.
Although the drawing on the municipal website shows a dark blue flag with a light blue coat of arms, the photo of the flag actually used clearly shows a light blue flag with a dark blue coat of arms.

Željko Heimer, 10 November 2010

Coat of arms of Pakoštane

Coat of arms of Pakoštane - Image by Željko Heimer, 31 july 2013

The coat of arms is "Azure a unicorn rampant or".

Željko Heimer, 10 April 2009

Ceremonial flag of Pakoštane

Ceremonial flag of Pakoštane - Image by Željko Heimer, 31 July 2013

The ceremonial flag is a blue gonfalon ending triangularly with a golden fringe at the bottom, with a coat of arms in the centre of it quartered: Pakoštane proper, argent an inflamed sword argent hilted or, argent a fleur-de-lis gules and azure a saltire or, topped with the name of the municipality in two arches above and with branches of grapevine and olive below.

This is, to my knowledge, the only example of a ceremonial flag showing a coat of arms different from the municipal one; presumably, this is a ceremonial version of the arms. The three additional quarters are prone to be speculated on their meaning. My first impression is that they may represent patron saints revered in the municipality; Pakoštane has four churches - St. Justin, St. Michael, St. Roch and Assumption of the Lord (in the order of their building) -, the last one being the parish church today, while the St. Roch church was desacralized some 100 years ago. I assume that the unicorn is standing for the current parish church, that is, the Assumption; clearly, the inflamed sword stands for St. Michael. However, the fleur-de-lis and saltire are not so easy to decipher.
On the other hand, the Municipality Statutes prescribe four church holidays to be officially celebrated - Assumption, St. Michael (29 September), St. Anthony [of Padua] (13 June) and Holy Trinity. However, there does not seem to be a link either to fleur-de-lis or saltire with this set either.

Željko Heimer, 10 April 2009