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Harstad, Troms (Norway)

image by Tomislav Šipek, 11 January 2016

The Flag
Coat of Arms

See also:

The Flag

Here is flag and coat of arms of Harstad.
Sources: http://www.ht.no/incoming/article9700185.ece
http://www.harstad.kommune.no/byvaapen.178191.no.html
Tomislav Šipek, 11 January 2016

Coat of Arms

image by Tomislav Šipek, 11 January 2016

Blazon: To bølgende sølv bjelker på blå bunn. In English: Azure two bars wavy argent.
Approved by the royal resolution of 21 April 1953 after a drawing by Jardar Lunde in cooperation with Hallvard Træteberg. [c2j87]
As explained on the municipal web site the town took initiative to get its symbols for the occasion of its 50th anniversary, that was celebrated on 9 June 1953. A public competition was run, but none of the 112 proposals received were approvable by the state archives, as they failed to satisfy the heraldic requirements.
Therefore the mayor Bothner and council member Hellebust asked from Jardar Lunde, a painter who participated in the competition, to provide for a new proposal. After several attempts the current design obtained the approval.
The shield is topped with three-towered crown. It is stated that the blue stands for the sea and the white for the waves.
[c2j87] also recounts taht the town wanted to have arms linking it to the sea, and chose a simple wavy design. As at the time the town of Brevik used similar design "azure three bars argent" (cf.
image 1 and image 2 - note the similar crown!), it was decided to give Hardstad two bars. Brevik was joined in 1964 with Porsgrunn, and [c2j87] includes only a short note under the later - blazoned: Tre sølv bjelker på blå bunn (azure three bars argent) approved by the royal resolution of 14 May 1954 after a drawing by Paulus Holm also in cooperation with Hallvard Træteberg. The design represents sea and logs, the base of the city economy.
Željko Heimer, 12 January 2016