Kvam, Hordaland (Norway)

Last modified: 2021-08-25 by christopher oehler
Keywords: kvam | pale pattee |
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image by Tomislav Šipek, 15 February 2017
Approved on 27 November 1981.

• About the flag
• Coat of Arms

• Hordaland
• Norway
• Norwegian municipality flags

Kvam municipality lies in Hordaland county.

The name Kvam means 'the place where the valley narrows in', an apt description of the landscape in this municipality. Tokagjelet, where the river falls dramatically into a gorge, is a popular place with the tourists. These natural features are reflected in the arms and flag of the municipality of Kvam, on which two curved blue fields at the hoist and fly ends leaves a white stripe in the middle, narrower at the centre than at the upper and lower end. The design is by Magnus Hardeland. Official approval was granted by Royal resolution 27 November 1981.
Jan Oskar Engene, 26 June 2002

Source: The text and image are based on research Engene did for an article published in the German vexillological journal Der Flaggenkurier, No. 2, 1996 [joe96]. Consult this article for detailed references to sources.

The flag of Kvam is already reported, so here is coat of arms. Administrative center is Norheimsund.
Source: https://lovdata.no/dokument/OV/forskrift/1981-11-27-3731?q=flagg
Tomislav Šipek, 03 February 2016

Coat of Arms

image by Tomislav Šipek, 03 February 2016

Official blazon in Norwegian: "I blått ein innsvinga kvit stolpe."
Blazoned in English: "Azure a pale pattee argent."
English blazon by Željko Heimer, 5 August 2002

Kvam kommunevåpen skal vere: I blått ein innsvinga sølv stolpe.
Kvam kommuneflagg skal vere: I blått ein innsvinga kvit stolpe.
Source: https://lovdata.no/dokument/OV/forskrift/1981-11-27-3731?q=kvam, as approved 17 February 1981.
(Even though these are technically two very different blazons, there's something suspicious in having two coats of arms giving similar impressions being approved not even two years apart. This is all the more so since a flaunch really should not be used in heraldry where a flag is derived automatically. After all, a flaunch is a part taken away from the shield, thus the proper rendition for a flag would be to cut away part of the flag. I guess a proper circumvention for Klæbu would have been "Argent, two (semi-)disks azure issuant from dexter and sinister".)
From the official approval we can see that the Norwegian one is actually the "stamin", describing the flag, rather than the blazon, describing the arms. The English is indeed the blazon, with a, rather heraldic, stamin being: "Blue a pale pattee white."
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 02 February 2016