^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Dobrinj (Municipality, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia)

Flag of Dobrinj, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Željko Heimer, 30 May 2013

Presentation of Dobrinj
Flag of Dobrinj
Coat of arms of Dobrinj
Ceremonial flag of Dobrinj
Unofficial flag of Dobrinj
Klimno Local Board

See also:

Presentation of Dobrinj

The municipality of Dobrinj (1,970 inhabitants in 2001, 122 in the village of Dobrink) is located on the eastern part of Krk island, opposing the town of Crikvenica on the coast.

Željko Heimer, 5 July 2003

Flag of Dobrinj

The symbols of Dobrinj are prescribed by Decision Odluka o grbu i zastavi Općine Dobrinj, adopted on 2 August 1996 by the Municipality Assembly and published on 10 September 2001 in the County official gazette Službene novine Županije primorsko-goranske, No. 20.
The Decision was published more than 5 years after its adoption; it may be that the Municipality waited to get the approval from the Ministry before publishing the Decision.

The symbols were designed by the Heraldic Art d.o.o. company from Rijeka.

The flag is in proportions 1:2, white with the coat of arms, bordered yellow in the middle.
The vertical flag is also used, though not mentioned explicitly in the Decision.

Željko Heimer & Robert Grubiša, 25 April 2013

Coat of arms of Dobrinj

Coat of arms of Dobrinj - Image by Željko Heimer, 30 May 2013

The coat of arms is "Azure Justitia clad and blindfoled argent holding in the dexter arm an upright sword proper and in the sinister golden scales standing on a green mount".

Željko Heimer, 5 July 2003

Ceremonial flag of Dobrinj

Ceremonial flag of Dobrinj - Image by Željko Heimer, 30 May 2013

The ceremonial flag is mentioned in the Decision but not described. A an table flag in use looks by pattern like a ceremonial flag: bordered golden, with the coat of arms ornamented with vine and olive branches and ribbon containing the name of the Municipality.

Željko Heimer & Robert Grubiša, 27 August 2003

Unofficial flag of Dobrinj

Unofficial flag of Dobrinj - Image by Željko Heimer, 10 October 2013

A white flag with the coat of arms in the middle, bordered yellow and outlined in black, and the writing "OPČINA / DOBRINJ" is in unofficial use in Dobrinj (photos, photos).

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg & Željko Heimer, 10 October 2013

Klimno Local Board

Former local communities (mjesne zajednice) in Croatia now are called "local boards" (mjesni odbori). The Local Board of Klimno is part of the Municipality of Dobrinj. Its proposed symbols (flag, coat of arms) were presented on the local website.

Valentin Poposki, 24 August 2007

The description claims that the saint shown on the coat of arms is St. Clement, the patron and namesake of Klimno. I guess that such a coat of arms would hardly be acceptable for the State Commission for approval, however, the Local Boards have no obligation to get their coat of arms approved.

There are several Clement, Clementinus... in the list of saints of Catholic Church. The one shown on the Klimno coat of arms holds three "apples" on a plate, and I would suspect the picture represents indeed St. Nicolas!. The most well-known St. Clement is Pope Clement I, the first pope to succeed St. Peter, who is, as a rule, shown in art with an anchor.

Željko Heimer, 26 August 2007

One of the traditional symbols for St. Nick is not three apples, but three bags of gold, often simplified to three gold balls. And the coat of arms in question sure looks like it has three gold balls. Also, while a bishop's mitre would be acceptable headgear for the image of a pope, the papal tiara would have seemed more likely.
On the other hand, it was traditional to give children presents of apples on St. Clements Day, at least in England - I don't know if the practice also occurred on the Continent (and, as said, the image on the coat of arms looks more like gold balls than apples) - and having the saint standing in the sea, as in the coat of arms, would seem more apporopriate for St. Clement than St. Nicholas. Clement was martyred by drowning and is patron saint of mariners (the anchor associated with him represents the one supposedly tied around his neck when he was drowned).
My guess is this was an attempt to depict Clement using an image of Nicholas as a template, but which was not sufficiently modified.

Ned Smith, 26 August 2007