Kaiserslautern City (Germany)

Stadt Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz

Last modified: 2023-03-11 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: kaiserslautern | pale(white) | fish(haurient) |
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• Kaiserslautern City
• Kaiserslautern Flag
• Kaiserslautern Banner
• Kaiserslautern Coat of Arms

• Kaiserslautern County
• Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)
• Germany

Kaiserslautern City

Kaiserslautern Flag

It is a white-red horizontal bicolour with centred arms.
Source: Debus 1988
Stefan Schwoon, 2 Mar 2001

Kaiserslautern Banner

It is a white-red vertical bicolour with centred arms.
Source: Debus 1988
Stefan Schwoon, 2 Mar 2001

Kaiserslautern Coat of Arms

Shield Gules a pale Argent charged with fish haurient Azure.
Meaning:
Kaiserslautern became a city in the 12th century. The oldest seal is known since 1262 and shows a pale between two towers behind walls. The pale probably represents the Lautern River. In a seal from 1373 two fish are added on the pale, and one tower is transformed into a church. In the 17th century the buildings are removed and only one fish is shown, identical to the present arms. The fish has not always been shown on the pale. In a roll of arms from 1530 the arms are as they are today, but without the fish. Similarly, on another 14th century seal the arms, without fish, are placed on the breast of the imperial eagle. The colours are also not changed since the roll of arms in 1530, the oldest coloured image of the arms.
There is another story about the origin of the fish. In the year 1497 Prince Philipp had a huge fish served at a royal banquet in Heidelberg. The fish was 6 m in length and weighed about 350 pounds. That fish was caught in the Kaiserwoog (imperial pond) in Lautern. The fish had a ring around its neck, stating that it was the first fish released in the pond on the 5 October 1230 by Emperor Friedrich II. The fish thus was 267 years old at the time.
Source: Stadler 1966, p.36
Santiago Dotor, 8 Jan 2002

Flag, banner and arms are in use since 1545.
Stefan Schwoon, 2 Mar 2001 and Santiago Dotor, 8 Jan 2002

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