
The HGZD flag first use at the 22ICV FlagBerlin 2007. Graham Bartram holds the FIAV flag and Željko Heimer the HGZD flag during the opening ceremony of the Congress.
During the 22nd International Congress of Vexillology (ICV) FlagBerlin 2007 held from 6th to 10th August 2007, the HGZD membership application for the International Federation of Vexillologic Associations (FIAV, www.fiav.org), the top vexillologic organization encompassing over 50 national associations from all over the world, was approved. That was an excellent opportunity to introduce the newly made flag of HGZD to the international public.
The flag produced positive comments and many delegates joined in to photograph with it. At the photo here to the left, the HGZD flag is held by the president of HGZD, Mr. Željko Heimer accompanied by the FIAV Secretary for Congresses, Mr. Graham Bartram, the Rolay Flag Adviser of Great Britain, holding the FIAV flag, during the opening of the Congress in the German History Musuem in Berlin.
The HGZD coat of arms is gules between three escutcheons argent a banner azure fringed or on a staff of the last and a herald’s batton counter-compony gules and argent pommed or. The shield is encircled with a ribbon forming rotated square with rounded vertexes azure bordered or foring four vexillological knots and inscribed within it above HGZD and below 2006. To the dexter passing through the ribbon a staff or and on it attached a swallow-tailed flag trierced gules-argent-azure with a square rotated patch argent overall containing the same escutcheon and the ribbon.
The HGZD emblem is equal to the coat of arms of HGZD but without the flag and the flag staff.
The HGZD flag is red-white-blue horizontally divided tricolour with the split fly. In the centre of the flag on a white rotated square patch reaching to the half of the red and half of the blue stripe, the diagonal of which are parallel to the flag edges and are intersecting in the midpoint of the horizontal line connecting the hoist and the top point of the split, is set the emblem of HGZD.
The HGZD coat of arms symbolizes with its elements the heraldry and vexillology each on three layers: the shield is the direct symbol of heraldry, the three escutcheons are international symbols of herladic studies, and the herald’s baton is the symbol of heraldic authority; the flag on a staff is the direct symbol of vexillology, the vexillological knots are international symbols of vexillological studies, and the flag in the shield is a symbol of flag importance. The choice of the main colours of the coat of arms, red, silver and blue link it with the national colours, the herald’s baton is red-silver chequred symbolizing the Croatian heraldic heritage, while the flag is shape like the first Croatian tricolour used by Ban Jelačić in 1848, which was also with a split fly.