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

Ig (Municipality, Slovenia)

Municipal flag of Ig, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Željko Heimer, 9 August 2002

Presentation of Ig
Municipal flag of Ig
Coat of arms of Ig

See also:

Presentation of Ig

The municipality of Ig was formed in 1995 from parts of the municipality of Vic-Rudnik, which was one of the five municipalities forming until then the Civic Assembly of Municipalities of Ljubljana.
Ig is a suburban municipality that is rather industrialized nowdays, but in the past it was a marshy region, that mirrors in its symbols.

Željko Heimer, 9 August 2002

Municipal flag of Ig

The flag and arms of Ig are prescribed by Decision Odlok o grbu in zastavi Občine Ig, adopted on 3 March 1999, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije, 26/1999.

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 is rectangular, in proportion 2:5, green with two vertical white stripes forming a square field in the middle and two green fields on the edge of the flag, with proportion 3:3:8:3:3. In the middle there is the grebe from the coat of arms.

Željko Heimer, 9 August 2002

Coat of arms of Ig

Coat of arms of Ig - Image by Željko Heimer, 9 August 2002

The coat of arms of Ig can be blazoned as:

Per fess engrailed argent and vert, in chief issuant a reed of the last fructed or between two issuant fritillaries flowered gules and in base a grebe proper.

Valt explained that he had problems to design the coat of arms due to the political fragmentation of the municipal government at the time. The intial idea for the coat of arms was to represent typical houses on piles over water, called Mostiocarske kolibe to represent the traditional way of life in the marshes of Ljubljana (Ljubljansko barje). The lake there transformed into marshes less than 2000 years ago. However, other symbols were eventually adopted.

The flowers are mocvirski tulipan in nature, with red-violet flowers with black dots, but simplified for the sake of heraldry. It also appears on the arms and flags of Brezovica and Trzin.
The bird is called in Slovenian copasti ponirek (Podiceps nigricollis).

Željko Heimer, 8 January 2002

Fritillaries are close relatives of tulips.
Fritillary represents the botanical genus Fritillaria (Caperon) L., family Liliaceae. The name of the plant comes from Latin fritillus, dice cup, probably in relation to the shape of the flower and the checkered distribution of purple spots on the petals.
The most common wild species of fritillary is Fritillaria meleagris L. Meleagris was the Greek name of guinea-fowl. Linnaeus used this epithet as a reference to the common name of the flower, guinea-fowl egg (probably from its bulb). In France, the flower was also called damier (chequerboard) or coquelourde.
Wild fritillary grows in damp meadows, and it is therefore not surprising to see it placed beside the reed on the blazon. There are a few other fritillary species, most of them being endemic, endangered (if not extincted) species.

In 1575, Fritillaria imperialis L. was introduced in Western Europe from Constantinople. The introduction occurred during the 'tulip extravagance', which started in 1554 with the first introduction of a tulip and ended in February 1637 in a financial krach. F. imperialis, a.k.a. 'Imperial crown' is widely grown in gardens and also grows as subspontaneous populations (initially established following 'escape' from gardens.)

Sources:

P. Fournier - Les quatre flores de France. P. Lechevalier, Paris (1961; original edition, 1936)
M. Blamey & C. Grey-Wilson - La flore de France et d'Europe occidentale. Eclectis, Paris (1992; original British edition, 1989).

Ivan Sache, 30 December 2001