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

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St. Gallen

image by Pascal Gross

Argent a Bear rampant Sable langued and in his virility Gules and armed and gorged Or.
Željko 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 that 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 flag resources for the other cantons, I have to draw the flags using the only image available, namely the arms.

Pascal Gross, 21 December 2000

[I don't have access to the "St. Galler Wappenbuch" from 1991. Besides this I didn't find any references for the modern version Pascal drew (see e.g. Wikipedia). It seems that the stylized version of the emblem is not popular with either the authorities or the population, and everyone continues to use the traditional version in silent agreement. Perhaps a St. Gallen citizen can give us more information about this.]

[Small banner of the city of St. Gallen (early 15th c., source: [b7b42]). –
Cavalry standard (1682, b/w photo). 60x60 cm. The four flames are red, the collar golden, the fringes dark-red. Two red-white-black pompons attached on strings. (source: [b7b42])]