(Translated from https://www.novilist.hr/rijeka-regija/rijeka/nova-knjiga-dr-sc-zeljka-heimera-u-monografiji-iznio-argumente-o-povijesnoj-rijeckoj-trobojnici/ author Jakov Kršovnik, September 2, 2022, Novi list, Rijeka, photos by Ana Križanec)
The historical flag today is not the official flag of the City, but the ceremonial flag of the City of Rijeka: a tricolor of horizontal stripes of dark carmine, golden yellow and ultramarin
I think that this unique Rijeka story is an inexhaustible source for researchers, historians and all lovers of our city. Because it is precisely the story of the Rijeka flag, the story of Rijeka’s history, as you will see from this monograph.
Also, the flag of Rijeka is distinguished from others by the fact that Rijeka was in the status of a sovereign state for a short period of time, so the Rijeka flag was the flag of an internationally recognized state, Danko Švorinić will say in the introduction at the presentation of the monograph of Ph.D. Željko Heimer “Flags of Rijeka – a monograph of 200 years of the city’s struggle for the right to its own flag”.
The book was published by the association Slobodna Država Rijeka and presents the history of the Rijeka flag, as well as many other flags that were used in Rijeka: flags of the maritime authorities, shipping flags, sports, firefighting, hunting flags, as well as the flags of units from the Homeland War that joined defense of the homeland from Rijeka.
There are also other flags: the flag of the Trsat Shrine, the Rijeka Carnival, but also, for example, the flags of Rijeka kindergartens, which author Željko Heimer is particularly fond of, as he said at the presentation.
Historical Flag
At the presentation, held in the premises of the Museum of the City of Rijeka, in the popular Kockica next to the Governor’s Palace, the author also pointed out that in the monograph he wanted to collect and present the arguments for Rijeka’s historical tricolor flag, which today is not the official flag of the City, but the ceremonial flag of the City of Rijeka: a tricolor with horizontal stripes dark lipstick, golden yellow and ultramarine.
In the middle of the flag is the historical coat of arms of the City of Rijeka.
– The Rijeka tricolor must be accepted as part of the Croatian vexillological corpus and Croatian symbolic heritage, although this tricolor is undoubtedly the heritage of other nations that built Rijeka.
Of course, the people of Rijeka are quite familiar with this historical flag, and in my monograph I wanted to collect and present arguments, as well as historical sources and decisions, rules and documents that determine the Rijeka tricolor flag, said the author, Dr. Željko Heimer.
The last flag that “entered” the book is the flag of the Rijeka Capital of Culture EPK 2020, and as the author himself pointed out, like every other vexillology book, this one became “outdated” as soon as it was printed, with and without quotation marks.
Symbols of Community
– Because flags as symbols of the social community are constantly evolving and I am sure that from 2020, when the text is finished, we will already have new flags that we could fit into the monograph.
I hope that this is an opportunity for the book to see another edition and that we will see each other again, said the author.
The presentation of the book has also been announced in Zagreb, the probable date is November 6 or 9, and exactly when and where the presentation will take place in the Croatian capital will still be confirmed.
CIGH