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Balestrand, Sogn og Fjordane (Norway)

image by Tomislav Šipek, 22 February 2017

The Flag
Coat of Arms

See also:

The Flag

Here is flag and coat of arms of Balestrand.
Source: https://lovdata.no/dokument/OV/forskrift/1989-11-17-1201?q=flagg
http://foto.digitalarkivet.no
Tomislav Šipek, 18 November 2015

Coat of Arms

image by Tomislav Šipek, 18 November 2015

Blazon: På blå grunn eit oppveksande nedvend sølv sverd. In English: Azure a down-pointing sword argent issuant from the base. Approved by the royal resolution of 17 November 1989 There seems to be no indication of authors or symbolic behind the design available on line, other then it represents a Viking sword.
Source: http://ngw.nl/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Balestrand
A design agency shows the municipal logos including the coat of arms, but it is not clear if they actually designed the coat of arms itself.
Source: http://www.gastaprofil.com/balestrand-grafiske-profil-merkevareplattform-balestrand-kommunevapen-2-linjer/
Tomislav Šipek, 18 November 2015

Well, det Store Norske Leksikon has it that the sword is taken from the statue of king Bele at the Bale mounds (Balehaugar), two burial mounds from ca. 800 DC. All these names gave rise to the believe that King Bale or Bele, from the Fridtjof's saga, must have lived here, and must have been buried in one of the mounds. Thus, the arms are a reference both to King Bele from the saga and to the archaeological finds of the mounds.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 27 March 2016