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Pivka (Municipality, Slovenia)

Municipal flag of Pivka - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 January 2002

Presentation of Pivka
Municipal flag of Pivka
Coat of arms of Pivka

See also:

Presentation of Pivka

Pivka has the municipality status since 1995, seceding from Postojna. The former name of the municipality was Sempeter na Krasu. It was renamed after the local river Pivka, a karst river that dives underground eventually to emerge again in Ljubljana valley where it is called Ljubljanica.

Željko Heimer, 22 January 2002

Municipal flag of Pivka

The coat of arms and flag of Pivka are prescribed by Decision Odlok o grbu in zastavi Občine Pivka, adopted on 15 April 1998 and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, nr. 37, 15 May 1998, pp. 2767-70. The Decision in the official gazette is accompanied with line drawing of the coat of arms and flag, and with the color specifications. The flag is defined in Article 13 of the Decision.

The symbols were designed by Valt Jurečič of Heraldika d.o.o. and Heraldica Slovenica, who kindly provided drawings from which the images shown on this page were made.

The flag of Pivka is of a design characteristic of the Slovene municipal flags. A cross of unusual shape is made of a combination of an horizontal division in three stripes and a vertical division in three unequal stripes, which is often known as Canadian pale. Therefore, the flag has four rectangles, one in each corner, while the main field forms an unusual wide cross. The vertical arm of the cross is square and bears some attribute from the coat of arms as a rule.
The flag overall proportions are 2:5. It can be easily shown that the corner rectangles should be 1/3 h x 3/4 h, h being the flag height.

The flag of Pivka has such a white cross on a blue field, with the the horseman from the coat of arms (height = max. 9/10 min. 7/10 of the hoist size) in the middle.

The colour specification are the following (Intercolor '87 Cinkarna Celje / CMYK / Browser Safe approximation):
- Yellow: Y 100 M 10 C 0 / 0-20-100-0 / 255-204-0
- Red: M 90 Y 100 C 0 / 0-90-100-10 / 204-51-0
- Blue: M 50 C 100 C 100 / 0-35-0-10 / 0-102-204
- Green: Y 100 C 100 C 100 / 0-0-100-40 / 0-102-51

Željko Heimer, 22 January 2002

Coat of arms of Pivka

Coat of arms of Pivka - Image by Željko Heimer, 22 January 2002

Article 8 of the Decision defines the coat of arms twice, first in general, and then in details:

In general: The coat of arms of the Municipality of Pivka is the folk hero Martin Krpan with a mesarica and a club, riding on a red mare over a green hill, all in a silver shield.

Detailed description of the coat of arms: The coat of arms of the Municipality of Pivka is made on a shield of late Gothic style of sanitet shape. A stout countryman in blue jacket, black trousers, tall black boots and black hat on his head, with a golden club in his left hand, and golden and black double bladed axe over his right shoulder, riding a red little horse with black mane and tail, over a green mount in base of a silver shield. The golden ribbon that is around the shield outer edges is only for decorative purposes.

The layout of the coat of arms in line-draw, in black and white print, in seal graphics, in heraldic hatching and in colors together with color codes in the attachment is integral part of this Decision.

Martin Krpan is a Slovenian folk tale hero, a mighty and clever highlander who helped the countyfolk in problems with the (foreign) masters, a kind of Slovenian Robin Hood. He was invented by the writer Fran Levstik.
The mesarica is a double-bladed axe. Few words afterwards there is another term given in quotes in the original text, which I translated as "mare" above. In original text, the pet name for a mare is used ("little mare"), according to the folk tales.

Željko Heimer, 22 January 2002