City of Grabow (Germany)

Stadt Grabow, Landkreis Ludwigslust-Parchim, Mecklenburg-Westpomerania

Last modified: 2017-11-11 by german editorial team
Keywords: grabow | crescent | mural crown | stars(3) |
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3:5  image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Jul 2009

• Grabow city
• Coat-of-Arms

• County and Municipal Flags (Mecklenburg-Westpomerania / Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
• former Ludwigslust County
• Ludwigslust-Parchim County
• Mecklenburg-Westpomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
• Germany

Grabow city

The flag of the City of Grabow (Ludwigslust county; Mecklenburg-Westpomerania) is a vertical triband divided into blue-yellow-blue with ratio 1:2:1. In the centre of the yellow stripe is the coat of arms of the city with a ratio is 3:5. Its coat of arms is discribed as: "In a blue field is a golden, waxing crescent having a face and accompanied by three golden 6-point stars in triangular constellation. The chief is a red mural crown, masoned black, having three red, embattled torrets and a closed golden gate in gothic style. Its meaning is: The crescent is visibly wane, but heraldically waxing, which is mentioned expressis verbis in the description given by the municipality. During the phase of waxing the crops in the fields have been said to grow better and enterprises have been said to succeed better. Therefore the three stars are said to represent fortune, honor and fame. The coat of arms was first mentioned in1667 and was adopted as coat of arms of Grabow in 1991.
Source: city website. I spotted this flag on 19 July 2007 in Hamburg-Moorfleet, hoisted upon a small vessel named “IRENE”, which was registered in Grabow. The flag perfectly matched the description given in www.kommunalflaggen.de (Eintrag no.13054037).
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 26 Jul 2009

In heraldic term a star is a 'mullet' (or possibly 'estoille'), that a vertical crescent is a "moon" and that if the horns are towards the sinister (as these are) then the term to use is either "decrescent" or "decrement".  When a crescent moon is shown with its horns towards the dexter it is termed increscent or increment, when towards the sinister decrescent or decrement, when however, it is shown full (usually with a face) the term used is per complement. A crescent with a face is not unknown in European heraldry.
Christopher Southworth, 26 Jul 2009

Coat-of-Arms

3:5  Image from city website.
Adopted 1991