Svalbard flag proposal (Norway)

Last modified: 2014-10-04 by zoltán horváth
Keywords: arms | svalbard | norway | lion: gold | axe |
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Jan Oskar Engene, 7 February 1996

See also:

• Svalbard and Jan Mayen (Norway)
• Norway

Svalbard does not have arms, and the only proper flag for the islands is the Norwegian flag.

In 1930, a private association proposed arms and flags for all Norwegian counties - and also for Svalbard. This was a Norwegian lion on a field of vair blue and white. Note that this was never officially adopted and is not the flag of Svalbard.
Jan Oskar Engene, 7 February 1996

The image is actually the originally proposed artwork. The drawing was made by heraldist Hallvard Traetteberg in 1930 when the Svalbard proposal was put forward together with arms and flags of Norwegian counties in a booklet called Fylkesmerker [trt30].

The 1930 proposal was never adopted and no one in Norway, as far as I am aware, has ever tried to raise the issue of a flag for Svalbard again later.
Jan Oskar Engene, 6 November 2007