Lecture “Croatian Municipal Heraldry” in Opatija, 27.6.2025.
Organized by the Opatija Branch of Matica Hrvatska in cooperation with the HGZD, a lecture by the president of the HGZD, Željko Heimer, entitled “Croatian Municipal Heraldry”, was held in the Villa Antonio hall.
Along with an introduction on the origin and development of heraldry, and especially in our areas, the development of municipal heraldry was presented – coats of arms used by cities, municipal municipalities, market towns and other administrative units in various periods. In recent times, with the establishment of the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Croatia, counties, cities and municipalities are also legally allowed to use their own coat of arms and flags. Most of the almost six hundred units have adopted their symbols, some based on historical tradition, while many, which did not have coats of arms before, have adopted completely new solutions.
Contemporary Croatian municipal heraldry is characterized by a very clean and heraldically consolidated expression, which can be compared with the best municipal systems of Western European countries with a much longer tradition in this area of expressing national identity. The lecture showed, with many illustrations, how historical municipal coats of arms developed and how the modern coats of arms of cities and municipalities in Croatia were formed from them.
Given the area of activity of the Branch, special attention was paid to the situation in the area of Liburnia, and the development of the coats of arms of individual local government units, Opatija (Volosko), Lovran and others was presented in detail. The development of the coats of arms of Rijeka, Bakar and other cities of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, as well as other significant units in the Republic of Croatia, was also richly illustrated and commented on.
The lecture was inspiring for the audience, and a discussion on individual questions followed, to which the lecturer explained individual problems with arguments.
CIGH