The book by Željko Heimer »Grbovi i zastave Grada Zagreba« was published by Leykam International. This second book in the Leykam’s »Coats of Arms and Flags« series on almost 200 pages of quality print with numerous colour illustrations brings the story of city symbols since their emergence in 13th century in two neighboring civic communities of Gradec and Kaptol until today.
The City of Zagreb was formed as administrative unit in 1850 by unification of Gradec, Kaptol and two rural neighboring communities, all tracing their establishment in the early Middle Ages. Their seals are preserved since 15th century, while flags are mentioned already in 14th century. These were basis for the coats-of-arms. The oldest preserved flags of Gradec and Kapol are from 18th century. All these coats of arms were predominantly red, as was the municipal colour.
The unified city was granted a coat of arms in 1896, changing the colour of the shield to blue that from now on becomes the municipal colour. A flag in form of a banner of arms was adopted in 1902 and produced in 1916.
After 1945 the civic crown from the coat of arms was replaced with the red five-pointed star, the flag being prescribed only in 1964 with only few changes in the design. In 1975 the red star was added in the flag as well. Some municipal subdivisions adopted coats of arms but no flags.
After the independence the city was united again with temporary symbols. In 1999 a new redesign of the symbols was introduced, following the state regulations.
The book describes the history of the basic civic identity of Zagreb through centuries, in accordance to their legal and official determination, but also through variants and examples used in practice.