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Piran (Municipality, Slovenia)

Pirano

Municipal flag of Piran - Image by Željko Heimer, 19 September 2002

Presentation of Piran
Municipal flag of Piran
Coat of arms of Piran
Emblem of Piran
Yacht Club Pirat Portoroz (Jadralni Klub Pirat Portoroz)

See also:

Presentation of Piran

Pirano is the name of Piran in Italian, the second official language of the municipality.

Željko Heimer, 24 January 2000

Municipal flag of Piran

The flag and coat of arms of Piran are prescribed in 1995 in the Municipal Statutes Statut Občine Piran, adopted on 4 May 1995 and published on 19 May 1995 in the local official gazette Uradne objave Primorske novice, 8/1995.
In 1999, new Municipal Statutes Statut Občine Piran were adopted on 1 April 1999 and published on 20 April 1999 in the local official gazette Uradne objave Primorske novice, 10/1999. Nothing was changed regarding the municipal symbols.
The same year, Decision Odlok o spremembah in dopolnitvah odloka o izobešanju zastav, dvojezičnih napisih in zunanjem videzu naselij v Občini Piran, adopted on 20 May 1999 and published on 22 June 1999 in the local official gazette Uradne objave Primorske novice, 18/1999, superseded a previous Decision from the 1980s on the use of flag of the Italian minority. I assume that the previous Decision prescribed the use of the Italian flag with the red star. The new Decision prescribes that the flag of the Italian minority should be used with a streamer in the Slovene national colours, leaving to the Italian minority the choice of its flag.
In 2000, Decision Odlok o izobešanju zastav v občini Piran, adopted on 28 September 2000 and published on 3 November 2000 in the local official gazette Uradne objave Primorske novice,41/2000, superseded the previous texts concerning the flags; the streamer was no longer prescribed.

The flag of Piran is rectangular, in ratio 1:2, horizontally divided red-blue with the municipal coat of arms set near the hoist in the middle of the red stripe. On photographies of this flag taken by Doug Julien in August 2002 on the main square of Piran, the coat of arms is much closer to the hoist than officially prescribed.
On photographies of the vertical flag taken by Doug Julien, the flag is much longer then 1:2.

Željko Heimer, 19 September 2002

Coat of arms of Piran

Coat of arms of Piran - Image by Željko Heimer, 10 September 2005

The municipality of Piran has been using a shield with a cross as its coat of arms since the Middle Ages, as can be seen from stone carved coats of arms in several places in Piran. Stanič [stj05] writes that the stone carved coat of arms preserved in the local Maritime Museum dates from 1791. The modern representation shows the blue shield with a white fimbriated red cross, the cross being "embowed", that is, made of two curved bars.

The coat of arms was designed by Sabina Dežan, a visual communication designer from Ljubljana.

I believe that the curved crossbars are result of a misinterpretation of the oval shapes shields often used in Italian heraldry, which were often pictured as "convex" and three-dimensional, and therefore the cross drawing on such shield would appear to have curved bars due to perspective. "Flattening" of such a picture in modern time would result in a "classic" triangular shield with an oddly embowed cross.

Željko Heimer, 14 September 2003

Emblem of Piran

Emblem of Piran - Image by Željko Heimer, 10 September 2005

Decision Odlok o uporabi celostne grafične podobe in sistema zunanjega označevanja v občini Piran, adopted on 8 May 1997 and published on 4 July 1997 in the local official gazette Uradne objave Primorske novice,19/1997, prescribes the municipal emblem as the coat of arms with a ribbon encircling it all around except the bottom, and crowned with a "civic" crown.

Željko Heimer, 10 September 2005

Yacht Club Pirat Portoroz (Jadralni Klub Pirat Portoroz)

Burgee of Yacht Club Pirat - Image by Ivan Sache, 6 October 2001

According to the yacht club website, the burgee is light blue with a red cross. A blue disc with a red border and the letter P in red in the middle is placed over the intersection of the two arms of the cross.

Ivan Sache, 6 October 2001