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Acre (Israel)

Iriyat Akko, Municipality of Acre

~3:1

image by Ivan Sarajcic
Coat-of-arms adopted 30th October 1958

Coat of Arms

image located by Martin Karner
(source)

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Unusually this city uses banners. Either vertical national flags or vertical city logo on azure bedsheet. Both look like 1:3. Under the emblem is the city name in Hebrew. Over the emblem is its name in English and Arabic (Acca). The emblem represents Akko as follows:

Top left: Palms – a lot of them around and in the city. Walls – Akko old town is surrounded by them
Top right: Old ship – to symbolize Acco's position as the main port in the area.
Bottom left: Today's industry and progress.
Bottom right: Walls and sea – Akko's geographical position and its past.

Akko (a.k.a. Acre, Acco, Acca) is a city in the north part of Israel on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, 20 km North of Haifa. Acco is one of the ancient towns in Israel, and was one of the main ports. Acco was the last capital of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Today Acco is quite a small town of about 45'000 inhabitans and its port is used as a resort and for yachts.

Dov Gutterman, 18 May 1999

Yesterday I escorted a visitor in the city of Akko (Acre). (...) Interesting to see so many flags around:

Acco municipal flag (illustrated above): it is a flying and not a hanging flag. I also observed one horizontal variant.
Acco Developing Company (a joint governmental and municipal company for developing and preservation of the hustoric part of the city): the usual white emblem on blue.
All the Islamic institutes (mosques, holy graves etc.) hoisted a 1:2 light green flag with white Shahada. Quite reminding of the Saudi flag but without the swords and with lighter shade of green.
St. John church hoisted a 2:3 white flag with 5 crosses, quite resembling to this one but the main cross got smaller, almost invisible ends and no periferial line around it. Also the main cross and the smaller crosses were less bold than those in that image.
The Greek Orthodox Church hoisted three flags. On one pole there was the unofficial Greek variant and below it the Greek Orthodox Church flag and on the other pole there was a red St. George cross on white and in the center of the cross there was the symbol of two combined Greek letters (alpha and omega?).

Dov Gutterman, 6 July 2001

The municipal emblem was published in the official gazette (Rashumot), YP 631, 30 October 1958.
Dov Gutterman, 4 September 2001

Mrs. Ilana Levy, Akko Municipality spokeswoman, wrote to me 8 November 2001 and beside sending me a desk flag (emblem on white, inconsistent with the light blue flag with municipal emblem), she made quite a research (my translation):

The official flag of the Municipality of Akko bears the municipal emblem on an azure (light blue) background. The emblem was approved in a meeting of city council in 1949 after a competition won by the artist Mrs. Miriam Kroli. The emblem is quartered and tries to reflect Akko with all its aspects and contrasts. In the upper right there is a ship symbolizing Akko as port city. In the upper left there are the buildings of the new city. On the bottom right there are the walls of the old city and bottom left there is a cogwheel symbolizing Akko's industrial zone which was established and started to develop.

Dov Gutterman, 13 November 2001

Akko is the first town in Israel to be named as world heritage site by UNESCO in 2001 (see whc.unesco.org). Beside Jerusalem, it is the site with the most varied history in Israel. You can read about its history in English at akko.org.il, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org and many other sites.
Emblem appear on a stamp, issued 24 March 1965.
Dov Gutterman, 20 April 2005