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Subnational flags of Liechtenstein

Last modified: 2016-01-02 by rob raeside
Keywords: commune | gemeinde | banner | banner of arms | wimpel |
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Communal flags

There are basically three different ways to make a Liechtenstein municipal flag:

Not all municipalities do use all versions, which is partly due to the fact that the “simple striped” version is already a kind of banner-of-arms (Planken, Schellenberg).
M. Schmöger, 12 September 2009

There are a few publications that give us (at least short) information about the municipal flags:

  1. Walter Kranz: Fürstentum Liechtenstein — eine Dokumentation. Presse- und Informationsamt des Fürstentums Liechtenstein, Vaduz 1982. [kra82d]
  2. Wappen, Farben, Siegel und Embleme des Fürstentums Liechtenstein. Regierung des Fürstentums Liechtenstein, Vaduz 1985. [l9i85]
  3. Eleven stamps showing the coats-of-arms and flags of the Liechtenstein municipalities (1995), see here: FotW stamps #3501, #3502, #3503, #3504, #3505, #3506, #3507, #3508, #3509, #3510, and #3511.
However, there was a lack of first-hand evidence of the actual usage of the flags; I gather some, from own observations on 15 August 2009 (national holiday) as well as from photographs in books and on the WWW.
M. Schmöger, 12 September 2009

I think we can take 3:5 as a standard for the flags of “usual shape”, since 3:5 if the official ratio of the national flag, but these flags can also be 1:1, 2:3, or 3:1 or 2:1 if they are banners.
Pascal Vagnat, 14 October 1999

Incorrect reports

Generally, there are two problems with the material reported to FOTW-ws until now:
  • the simple striped flags in the horizontal form (that we used to show on FOTW-ws) do not exist at all in real life
  • the “reconstructions” from the descriptions in [kra81] are partly wrong due to somewhat misleading descriptions. We should bear in mind, that even the blazoning of the coats-of-arms do contain a few grave mistakes [jsu73]. The descriptions of the flags do sometimes mix up «per pale» and «per fess».
M. Schmöger, 12 September 2009

Communal banners

The official texts for the communes say that they can also use their coats of arms to make flags (banners of the arms). There are not flags with the coats of arms on them, like in Austria, but the communes could make them. In fact, the text doesn’t describe those flags, if they exist, but gives only the right for use the coats of arms as a basis for flags, that means that banners of the arms, Wimpel, etc. could be manufactured. In the case of Liechtenstein, the [commune] banners, if they exist, are vertical versions of the flags with proportions of ca 3:1 instead of 3:5, generally with vertical stripes. The state of Liechtenstein itself has a banner.
Pascal Vagnat, 4 and 13 April 1999

Communal flags’ usage

I’ve never seen a flag of Ruggell, in spite of living in Ruggell, just coats of arms. On official parties or holidays, we (in Ruggell) hoist the flag of our country and the ensign of our prince. In bigger towns like Schaan or Vaduz, the rule may be different.
Hans Leemann, 16 July 1999

The municipalities do use their flags, not daily, but certainly not infrequently, as evidenced by many photographs found on the WWW. On national holiday (15 August) they most definitely hoist their flags, also Ruggell.
M. Schmöger, 12 September 2009

Unterland and Oberland

On 23 January 1719, Charles VI made a principality of the county of Vaduz (now Unterland) and the seigniory of Schellenberg (now Oberland), which had been united since 1434.
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]