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Meißen County (Germany)

Landkreis Meißen, Saxony

Last modified: 2020-01-06 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: meiszen(county) | riesa-groszenhain | lion(black) | linden(branch) | cogwheel |
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[Meissen county new flag] 2:3 image by Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009 modified by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020
adopted 19 Mar 2009

See also:

Meißen County

Meißen is a county (Landkreis) in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the state of Brandenburg, the county of Bautzen, the urban county Dresden, the counties Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, Mittelsachsen and Nordsachsen.

The county dates back to the Amt Meißen, which was first mentioned in 1334. The county was ruled by the Wettin dynasty. The Margraves of Meißen created the administrative division (Amt) in the 13th century. In 1835 the Amt was converted into an Amtshauptmannschaft, with the area of the current county covered by the Amtshauptmannschaften Meißen, Dresden and Grossenhain. In 1939, these were renamed Landkreise (counties). In the administrative reform of 1952, several municipalities were transferred to the counties of Freiberg and Döbeln. In 1990, the old county borders were restored, and in 1996 parts of the county Dresden-Land were added.
The county was enlarged in 2008, when the former county of Riesa Großenhain had to merge with the greater county.
The district of  Meißen adopted news symbols on March, 19 2009.
Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009

Meißen County Flag

The flag is vertically divided yellow-red-yellow-red-yellow (1:1:14:1:1) with the CoA of the dictrict of Meißssen in the centre of cloth.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020

Meißen County Banner

[Meißen county banner] 5:2 image by Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009 modified by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020
adopted 19 Mar 2009

The banner is horizontally divided yellow-red-yellow-red-yellow (1:1:14:1:1) with the county arms in the centre of cloth.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020

Meißen County Proposals

[Meißen County proposal#1]
2:3 image by Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009 		[Meißen County proposal#2]
2:3 image by Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009 modified by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020 		   

That one with black vertical stripes (see left image above) had been erroneously depicted as county flag in the county webpage. That one with red horizontal stripes (see right image above) had been erroneously depicted in the dade of approval. Both had been proposed before and were rejected in 2008 by the county council.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole der sächsischen Landkreise nach der Kreisgebietsreform von 2008", Dresden 2010, pp.33-39 Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020

Meißen County Coat of Arms

[Meißen county CoA]
image by Jens Pattke, 17 May 2009 		[Meißen county CoA until 2008]
3:5 image by Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007 		   

Shield Or a tressure Gules, a lion rampant Sable, armed and tongued Gules (see left image above).
Meaning: The old arms until 2008 (see right image above) had been the historical arms of the Margraviate of Meißen, i.e. just the lion without tressure. First to the old arms a red bordure had been added, in order to represent the Bishopric of Meißen. Its arms had been red displaying a Paschal Lamb. That bishopric had been established in 967 by Emperor Otto I and Pope Johannes XIII as one of the three bishoprics in the German eastern marshes (Ostmark). It was declared exemt by Pope Bonifatius IX in 1399 and was since then under direct rule of the Holy See. It was secularised during the German Reformation in 1539, restored in 1921 by Pope Benedict XV with seat in Bautzen. In 1980 the seat was transferred to Dresden.
The additional bordure however caused some problems, as those arms already existed as arms of the Heraldic Society "Schwarzer Löwe" (= black lion). Thus the bordure was replaced by a tressure, but the symbolism remained the same.
It is remarkable that the dade of approval displayed a false county flag, displaying the shield also between horizontal red stripes instead of vertical ones.
The images with black stripes reported by Jens Pattke in 2009, had been rejected proposals, which had been erroneously published in the webpage of the new county (and had never been replaced by the correct version, at least the proposal meanwhile has disappeared).
Sources:
(1) Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole der sächsischen Landkreise nach der Kreisgebietsreform von 2008", Dresden 2010, pp.33-39
(2) Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.88-89
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020

Flag, banner and arms were approved on 27 April 2009 by district director (Landesdirektor) of Dresden. The old flag and banner were approved on 19 July 1999 by district governor (Regierungspräsident) of Dresden. The old arms without tressure were approved on 16 November 1992 and confirmed on 20 February 1997 by district governor (Regierungspräsident) of Dresden.
Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007

Meißen County (old)

Meißen County old Flag

[Meißen county flag] 3:5 image by Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007

It was a black-yellow-black horizontal triband with ratio of stripes approx. 2:9:2. The coat of arms was in the yellow stripe and shifted to the hoist.
Source: E. Günther: "Coats of arms, flags and symbols in Saxony and its cities and counties", 2001 - [Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen].
Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007

Meißen County old Banner

[Meißen county banner] image by Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007

It was a black-yellow-black horizontal triband with ratio of stripes approx. 2:9:2. The coat of arms was in the yellow stripe and shifted to the hoist.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.88-89
Jörg Majewski, 10 Feb 2007

Riesa-Großenhain County

Riesa-Großenhain County Flag

[Riesa-Großenhain County flag] 3:5 image by Jörg Majewski, 5 Mar 2007

It was a green-white horizontal bicolour. The coat of arms was slightly shifted to the hoist.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, p.105
Jörg Majewski, 5 Mar 2007

Riesa-Großenhain County Banner

[Riesa-Großenhain County banner] image by Jörg Majewski, 5 Mar 2007

It was a green-white vertical bicolour. The coat of arms was shifted to the top.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, p.105
Jörg Majewski, 5 Mar 2007

Riesa-Großenhain County Coat of Arms

[Riesa-Großenhain County CoA] image by Jörg Majewski, 5 Mar 2007

Shield parted per pall reversed embowed, above right Argent a linden branch Vert, above left Or a lion rampant Sable armed and tongued Gules, beneath Azure a cogwheel Or.
Meaning:
The branch is representing Riesa City. Its pre-1857 arms displayed among others a linden. The lion of the Margraves of Meißen is representing Großenhain City. The cogwheel is symbolising various industries. The flag colours are those of Saxony.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, p.105
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 6 Jan 2020

The arms were approved on 9 October 1996 by by district governor (Regierungspräsident) of Dresden. Flag and banner probably had never been approved officially.

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