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Nova Gradiška (Town, Brod-Posavina County, Croatia)

Flag of Nova Gradiška - Image by Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Flag of Nova Gradiška
Coat of arms of Nova Gradiška
Former symbols of Nova Gradiška (1995)
Coat of arms of Nova Gradiška in the early 1990s

See also:

Flag of Nova Gradiška

The symbols of Nova Gradiška is prescribed by the corrected Decision Ispravak Odluke o grbu i zastavi Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 25 October 1995 by the Town Assembly and published on 15 November 1995 in the Town official gazette Novogradiški glasnik, No. 9.
The Town Statutes Statut Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted by the Town Assembly on 5 October 2001 and published on 6 October 2001 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 6, describes the symbols in full detais in Article 7. This is repeated in the current Town Status, Statut Grada Nova Gradiška (Pročišćeni tekst), adopted by the Town Assembly on16 July 2009 and published on 17 July 2009 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 5.
Decision Odluka o mjerilima za odobravanje uporabe grba i zastave Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 26 November 2003 by the Town Assembly and published on 27 November 2003 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 11, replaces the 1995 Decisions; it prescribes the modes of use of the coat of arms and the flag (which are not described any more, as they are described in the Statutes), methods of production, requirements for those who ask for the use of the coat of arms and flag, the procedure for such a grant and the penalties for misuse.

The flag is in proportions 1:2, blue with the coat of arms, bordered yellow in the middle.

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Coat of arms of Nova Gradiška

Coat of arms of Nova Gradiška - Image by Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

The coat of arms is "Azure above a bar argent a church between two buildings all or".
The coat of arms depicts the St. Theresa church. The building of the baroque church started in 1754, and it was the first stone structure built in the young town until four years earlier known as Friedrichsdorf (after colonel Friedrich Schmidt, Commander of the Gradiška Regiment).

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Former symbols of Nova Gradiška (1995)

Early Decisions (1993-1995)

By Decision Odluka o ustanovljenju potrebe za izradu grba Grada Nova Gradiška putem javnog natječaja, adopted on 6 August 1993 by the Town Assembly and published on 14 August 1993 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 4, the Town Assembly formally recognized that "it needs a coat of arms", to run a contest to be issued in the national newspapers Vecernji list, to establish a jury of five members, among which "at least one member should be a professional who knows the heraldic rules". The jury was to prepare the text of the contest, which would be open for 30 days. It was prescribed that the design of the coat of arms should "reflect the landscape, cultural and artistic attributes and historical and other characteristics of the Town"; the jury shall have to consider the heraldic rules. The prize was set to the amount of Croatian dinars equivalent to 1,500 DEM. After the contest, the Town was to adopt a Decision on the coat of arms and request the approval from the central authorities.
Act Rješenje o imenovanju predsjednika i članova Ocjenjivačkog suda za odabir grba Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 8 September 1993 by the Town Assembly and published on 22 September 1993 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 5, provides the names of the jury (including country-wide respected names from the State Archives, a professor of art, an architect etc.), who were to issue the contest within five days. There is no indication in the subsequent gazettes whether the contest was issued and what the jury actually did.
Decision Odluka o postupku izradbe i pravilima za odabir grba Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 7 July 1994 by the Town Assembly and published on 8 July 1994 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 5, invalidated the 1993 Decision on the public contest. I assume that the public contest failed, either resulting in no response or the response was not of required quality. The new Decision determines a closed contest i.e. a direct commission of the coat of arms to an artist (or artists). Again a 30-day deadline was given to the invited artists to provide designs. The Town Assembly was to decide on the proposed ideas, to adopt the symbols, while the winning design was to receive 1,500 DEM after approval by the Ministry.

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Symbols adopted in May 1995

Flag and arms of Nova Gradiška, May 1995 - Images by Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

The first symbols were prescribed in Decision Odluka o grbu i zastavi Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 29 May 1995 by the Town Assembly and published on 31 May 1995 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 3.
The flag is described in proportions 1:2, blue, "edged with a yellow ribbon" (the drawing attached to the Decision reveals that this is meant to be a thin border along the outer edges), with the coat of arms in its centre; this is not explicitly stated, but the drawing shows the arms to be bordered yellow as well. The height of the coat of arms is prescribed to be 1/2 of the flag width.
The ceremonial flag is mentioned to be kept in the Mayor's office, having a golden fringe along the edges - otherwise this ceremonial flag is nowhere else mentioned.
The coat of arms is prescribed as follows:

The town's coat of arms is of an upright shield shape. The top edge of the shield is straight and the bottom is semi-circular. The ratio of the width to height is 1:1.25. The coat of arms countains 4 colours: black, leaf green, cobalt blue and cadmium yellow (herceforward: black, green, blue and yellow). All elements within the shield are edged with thin black outlines, and the shield is bordered with a highlighted black line. In the centre of the top part of the shield is a depiction of the barque St. Theresa church, coloured yellow. To its left and right are depicted historical civic architecture - two one-storeyd buildings with arcades in the ground floor, coloured yellow. Above the church and buildings is a symmetrical composition of three hills colored green. The background of the top part is blue. In the middle of the lower part of the shield is a depiction of a stream - a wavy horizontal blue stripe. Above its central part is set a depiction of a blue bunch of grapes with two yellow leaves. The background of the lower part is green.

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Symbols adopted in September 1995

Flag and arms of Nova Gradiška, September 1995 - Images by Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

This Decision was presumably forwarded to the Ministry of Administration and, probably following their opinion, was amended as Odluka o izmjenama i dopunama Odluke o grbu i zastavi Grada Nova Gradiška, adopted on 14 September 1995 by the Town Assembly and published on 15 September 1995 in Novogradiški glasnik, No. 5.
The amendmends include only the description of the coat of arms and the flag leaving everyting else from the original Decision as it was. The description of the flag is the same, only removing the yellow edges. The reference to the ceremonial flag is also removed. The yellow bordering of the coat of arms is still not mentioned, but is again clearly visible in the attached drawings in the gazette.
The green hills and the green bottom part of the coat of arms are now removed, leaving the shield plain blue shield; the bunch of grapes and its leaves are removed as well, and the wavy line is made white. Minor change in the church and building is also made, making all the openings (windows, doors, arcades) black.

The Ministry issued its act regarding this flag on 24 October 1995, including the simple blazons that were made by the heraldic experts working for the Ministry: "Azure above a bar argent a church between two buildings all or". The flag is there explicitly stated to have a border around the coat of arms.

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

Coat of arms of Nova Gradiška in the early 1990s

Coat of arms used in the early 1990s - Image by Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009

The coat of arms used in the early 1990s, as shown on a postcard dated 1991, was in a green shield a black portal with a golden corn stalk and in the base divided by a wavy line in white a red lower part of cog wheel inscribed golden "NOVA GRADIŠKA".

Željko Heimer, 29 November 2009