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Nin (Town, Zadar County, Croatia)

Flag of Nin;, left, as approved and used; right, as prescribed - Images by Željko Heimer, 31 January 2015

Presentation of Nin
Flag of Nin
Coat of arms of Nin
Former coat of arms of Nin (1990s)

See also:

Presentation of Nin

The Town of Nin (4,603 inhabitants in 2001, 1,256 in the town of Nin) is located 15 km north of Zadar. Nin was granted the Town status in 1997.
The place is of very big historic (and touristic) value, as the seat of the Croatian dukes in the 7th-8th centuries, notably Duke Višelav around 800, and as the see of the first Croatian Diocese in the 9th century. Nin was also the seat of later kings and church assemblies (e.g. in 1387 was held the State Parliament session there). The church of the Holy Cross that is found on the flag of the County is also situated in Nin.

Željko Heimer, 29 July 2006

Flag of Nin

The flag and arms of Nin are prescribed by Decision Odluka o grbu i zastavi Općine Nin, s opisom, Općinsko vijeće Općine Nin, adopted on 17 April 1995 by the Municipality Council.

The symbols were designed by Josip Zanki (website), an academic painter from Zadar.

The flag is described in Article 3 of the Decision as follows:

The flag of the municipality of Nin is blue with the coat of arms in the left corner.

The Ministry approved the design as an historical one. The Municipality was probably asked to amend the flag to have the coat of arms in the centre or offset to the hoist, since the legal prescriptions do not allow to have it in canton. The Municipality agreed, but the amendment to the original Decision was never passed / published. Accordingly, the approved flag has the coat of arms in the centre; such flags are the only one recorded in use, while the flag with the coat of arms, without golden outline, in the canton is still prescribed. The Ministry approval, dated 18 July 1995, does not specify the location of the coat of arms in the flag, which is described as:

Flag in proportions 1:2, coloured blue with the golden outlined municipality coat of arms.

Željko Heimer, 31 January 2015

Coat of arms of Nin

Coat of arms of Nin - Image by Željko Heimer, 8 January 2015

The coat of arms is described in Article 2 of the Decision as follows:

The coat of arms of the municipality of Nin is a shield with a blue background. In front of it is a fortress with three towers and a bridge. The fortress is silver (white). On the left side there is a six-pointed star coloured golden (yellow).

The Ministry approval gives the following blazon:

Azure a fortress with three towers and a bridge argent and a mullet of six or in chief sinister.

The document "Historical sources", kindly provided by the municipal administration, explains the coatof arms as follows:

The coat of arms was made according to the oldest known coat of arms of Nin (commune) that appears on a seal at a document of 30 August 1775.
The coat of arms in the seal is probably even older than the document, presumably made during the restoration in the 17th century. It shows the town figure reduced to a stripe of a wall with embattlements of trapezoidal base. Two towers are along the facade and the third is on the left within the town.
At the centre of the wall (facade) there are the town gates, to which a bridge is leading, and there is a six-pointed star in the sky.
The seal is kept in the Petricioli family archives in Zadar. According to that coat of arms; it was also made the coat of arms set in the entrance gates of Nin, which served as the coat of arms of the Local Community of Nin.
There are no data regarding a flag in known historical sources.

Željko Heimer & Marko Vitez, 31 January 2015

Former coat of arms of Nin

Former coat of arms of Nin - Image by Željko Heimer, 9 January 2015

The coat of arms depicts a ship with a rectangular chequy seal in front of the town walls. The shield is topped with a ancient Croatian crown; on the ribbon beneath it is inscribed "Nin - najstariji hrvatski kraljevski grad" (Nin - the Oldest Croatian Royal Town).

Željko Heimer, 8 January 2015