^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Mikleus (Virovitica-Podravina, Croatia)

Opc'ina Mikleuš

by Željko Heimer, 26 April 2005

Overview
Coat of Arms

See also:

Other Sites:

Collection of Croatian Local Flags at FAME

Overview

Mikleuš is a community in the Virovitica and Podravina County some 40 km southeast of Virovitica along the main road towards Osijek. Population just over 2,000 with half of the number in the village of the same name. The coat of arms is shown on the County web site at <www.viroviticko-podravska-zupanija.hr> possibly adopted in mid-1990's. The coat of arms of Mikleuš is Gules a bend between three balls and an oak twig all or. The three balls (oranges, apples?) are no dbout attributes of St. Nicolas, the namesake of the community and probably its patron, too. The flag is green with the coat of arms in the middle. This was reported by Tomislav Sipek.
Željko Heimer, 18 November 2004

The three balls are not fruits but purses. St. Nicolas was Bishop of Myra in the IVth century. The city of Myra, located in Asia Minor, was the capital city of Lycia under Eastern Emperor Theodosius II (408-450), declined in the VIIth century and was abandoned in the XIIth century. At the end of the XIth century, merchants from Bari (Italy) stole St. Nicolas' relics in Myra and brought them to Bari, whose patron saint is St. Nicolas. A tradition says that when the merchant opened Nicolas' tomb, they were choked with a holy, strong perfume, so that they picked up the wrong relics. St.Nicolas' tomb is today kept in the neighbouring village of Demre. There are several legends related to St. Nicolas. It is well-known that he resurrected three children killed by a butcher who kept them into his salting-tub. Another tradition reports that Nicolas helped a poor who could not provide his three daughter with a dowry: the saint placed three big purses filled with gold on the windowsill of the poor's house. Accordingly, St. Nicolas is the patron saint of the pawnbrokers, and is often represented with three round purses.
Ivan Sache, 25 December 2004

In the tradition over here, the three things are considered apples or even oranges. The story of the dowry is also known well, however the icons show the saint usually by carying three round fruits.
Željko Heimer, 26 December 2004

British anthropologists have just reconstructed the face of St Nicholas, based upon the bones which are ascribed to him in his reliquary. There was an article about him in several British newspapers, together with a photograph of him based on the reconstruction, and also a tv show about the reconstruction. The anthropologists added a gray beard to the features, as this would among men of his age and status at that particular time and place. St Nick comes out as not the kind of man you would want to get into an argument with - a tough figure with a broken nose who stood slightly over five feet tall; in other words, a typical Levantine merchant who would have been among the wealthiest men in his small town of Myra.
Ron Lahav, 27 December 2004

The flag shown in the County Assembly Hall differs slightly from what I reported before: it is dark green with the coat of arms in the middle (somewhat smaller then I reported).
Željko Heimer, 26 April 2005

Coat of Arms

by Željko Heimer, 18 November 2004