Zwickau City (Germany)

Stadt Zwickau, Landkreis Zwickau, Sachsen

Last modified: 2022-12-10 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: zwickau | swans(3) | towers(3) |
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• Zwickau City
• Zwickau Flag
• Zwickau Banner
• Zwickau Banner
• Zwickau plain Banner
• Zwickau Coat of Arms

• Zwickau County (Saxony, Germany)
• County and Municipal Flags (Saxony / Sachsen)
• Saxony ( Sachsen)
• Germany

Zwickau City

Zwickau Flag

White-red bicolour, usually with the arms.
Source: "Die Wappen der kreisfreien Städte und Landkreise im Freistaat Sachsen": Veröffentlichung der Sächsischen Archivverwaltung, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle/Saale, ISBN 3-89812-069-4
Stefan Schwoon, 9 Mar 2001

Zwickau Banner

It is a white-red vertical bicolour. The coat of arms is shifted towards the top.
Source: this online catalogue
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 Dec 2022

Zwickau plain Banner

It was a white-red vertical bicolour.
Source: this online catalogue
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 Dec 2022

Zwickau Coat of Arms

Shield Gules quartered, 1st and 4th quarter three swans passant Argent, 2nd and 3rd quarter issuant from base wavy Argent an embattled wall of the same topped by three different towers of the same.
Meaning:
A Slavic settlement on the banks of the Mulde River had been possessed in 1118 by Countess Bertha of Groitzsch. Source of income had been the customs duty, as the settlement was located on the road between Altenburg and Bohemia across the unexplored Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). A church dedicated to St. Mary already existed. Before 1150 a settlement of merchants around another church dedicated to St. Nicolas was added. The settlement was transformed to a city in 1170 by the Staufen kin as part of the imperial territory of Pleißenland. In 1212 the Margraves of Meißen built the local Osterstein Castle and in 1230 a new town around the (new) chruch of St. Mary was added. Zwickau gained complete city rights probably around 1220 and was mentioned as a city in 1258. The city was walled in the 14th century. In 1290 the city again became an imperial possession, but was regained by the margraves finally in 1308. A local mint existed since 1210, a local council since 1273 and a mayor since 1297. The council held the high level cognisance since 1440. In 1231 a Franciscan monastery was established by the Bishopric of Naumburg. The oldest known city seal of the city from the early 13th century only displayed the three towers. In the 14th century the seals sometimes showed three swans, which were falsely derived from the idea that the name was derived from Cygnea, or swan-city. The united towers and swans in a quartered shield first appeared in 1560. Since then the pattern remained basically the same. The swans never changed. The towers changed frequently in details. They had been white on blue fields first. Otto Hupp displayed red towers with blue roofs on blue waves. Later the towers waere completely white on a red field on blue and white waves. Finally the waves were only white.
Source: "Die Wappen der kreisfreien Städte und Landkreise im Freistaat Sachsen": Veröffentlichung der Sächsischen Archivverwaltung, Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle/Saale, ISBN 3-89812-069-4 and Bensing et alii 1984, pp.520-522
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 Dec 2022

The plain bicolour is in use since 1897. Flag and banner with arms are were introduced in 2000 probably without approval. The arms are traditional and in use since 1560.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 5 Dec 2022

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