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

St. Gallen commune (St. Gallen canton, Switzerland)

See also:

St. Gallen

by Pascal Gross

Argent a Bear rampant Sable langued and in his virility Gules and armed and gorged Or.

Zeljko Heimer, 23 December 2000

People having the book of Louis Mühlemann, Arms and Flags of Switzerland will certainly notice a difference between the version of the arms of St. Gallen commune available in this book and my version. The flag image sent today is taken from "St. Galler Wappenbuch" edited by the Department of the Interior of the Canton of St. Gallen (1991). This more stylized version seems to date back to 1986 because I have 2 dates for the decisions of the municipal council about the adoption of the arms. The first is August 20, 1943 (certainly the old design) and the second, May 27, 1986 (certainly the new design) but there's nothing else about this change. Anyway, with all the respect I have for Louis Mühlemann, I think that a book edited by the canton itself is more reliable.

As I'm talking about the book for St. Gallen canton, I have to say that this book is the only one showing both municipal coat of arms AND municipal flags (only a B/W sketch but very useful for the drawings) and I've noticed that there are, in some cases, some differences between the arms and the flag, mostly the position of some animals. As there is no other written flags resources for the other cantons, I have to draw the flags using the only image available, namely the arms.

Pascal Gross, 21 December 2000