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

West Herzegovina Canton (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Zapadnohercegovački kanton

Last modified: 2020-07-26 by ivan sache
Keywords: west herzegovina canton | wattle (yellow) |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



[Canton flag]

Flag of West Herzegovina Canton - Image by Željko Heimer, 27 September 2000


See also:


Flag of West Herzegovina Canton

The symbols of West Herzegovina Canton are prescribed by Law Zakon o grbu i zastavi Županije Zapadnohercegovačke, adopted on 9 April 2003 by the Canton Assembly and published on 14 April 2003 in the Canton official gazette Narodne novine Županije Zapadnohercegovačke, No. 5.
The symbols were already prescribed in Articles 7 to 9 the cantonal Constitution Ustav Županije Zapadnohercegovačke, adopted on 26 March 1996 and published in Narodne novine Županije Zapadnohercegovačke, No. 1. This must be a straight copy of the description of the symbols of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia .
Article 7 reads:

The Canton has a coat of arms, a flag and a seal, as well as other symbols on which the Cantonal Assembly decides.
The symbols from Paragraph 1 of this Article shall be used beside the symbols of the Federation, in accordance with the laws of the Federation and of the Canton.

On 7 July 1998, the Constitutional Court of the Federation ruled that Articles 8 and 9, among some others, were unconstitutional (text); the Amendments Amandman XV. - XVI. na Ustav Županije Zapadnohercegovačke, adopted on 29 September 2000, deleted Articles 8 and 9 and rephrazed Article 7 as follows:

The Canton has a coat of arms, a flag and a seal.
The design of the coat of arms, the flag and the seal of the Canton, their use and protection are determined with the Cantonal law.
The Canton may have also other symbols on which the Cantonal Assembly decides.

The flag is basically a variant of the Croatian national flag, from which it differs only by the coat of arms. It was described in the revoked Article 9 of the cantonal Consitution as follows:

The flag of the Canton is composed of three colours: red, white and blue, with the coat of arms of the Canton in the middle.
The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 1:2. The colours are set horizontally, from the top to bottom: red, white and blue. Each colour covers one third of the flag width.
The coat of arms of the Canton is set in the middle of the flag so that the top part of the coat of arms (triple wattle) enters the red field of the flag, and the bottom part of the coat of arms (in the height of one square field) enters the blue field of the flag.
The central point of the coat of arms matches the point where the flag diagonals intersect each other.

Željko Heimer, 24 December 2012


Coat of arms of West Herzegovina Canton

[Canton arms]

Coat of arms of West Herzegovina Canton - Image by Željko Heimer, 27 December 2000

The coat of arms is a slight variation of the Croatian coat of arms, differing in the shape of the shield and having a golden triple wattle ornament in chief. It was described in the revoked Article 8 of the cantonal Consitution as follows:

The coat of arms of the Canton is the historical Croatian coat of arms in the shape of a stylized shield, divided horizontally and vertically into 25 red and white square fields, so that the first square in the top left corner of the shield is red. Above the shield is a triple wattle set horizontally above the shield's three central fields.
The ratio of the height of the triple wattle to the height of a square is 1:1, while the ratio of the length of the triple wattle to the length of a square is 3:1.
The coat of arms is bordered with a golden line.

Željko Heimer, 24 December 2012