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Lišane Ostrovičke (Municipality, Zadar County, Croatia)

Last modified: 2014-03-08 by ivan sache
Keywords: lisane ostrovicke | fire (red) | swords: 3 (white) |
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[Municipality flag]

Flag of Lišane Ostrovičke - Image by Željko Heimer, 21 November 2009


See also:


Presentation of Lišane Ostrovičke

Lišane Ostrovičke is located 50 km south-east of Zadar, about 25 km due east of Biograd na moru, inlands from the coast, on the eastern edge of the Ravni kotari region, on the railway line Zadar-Knin. It has somewhat over 750 inhabitants, the majority of whom live in the village of the same name, with just over 5% of Serb population. Before the Homeland War, the Serb population reached over 40%, from a total populaton of over 1,600 inhabitants.
Beside the main village there are two other settlements in the municipality, Dobropoljci and Ostovica. The latter provided the attribute in the current name of the municipality, in the Middle Age being an important fortress owned by the Dukes of Bribir. They exchanged it in 1347 for the Zrin fortress in central Croatia, since when they are known as Zrinski. Ostrovica and the surrounding region fell under the Turks in 1523, and the fortress was thoroughly destroyed in the Venetian-Turkish wars in the 17th century, when the importance of the nearby Lišane began. Lišane was ocupied by the Serb rebels in the 1990s and totally destroyed, the current inhabitants being almost exclusively those who returned from exile in 1990s.

Željko Heimer, 23 May 2008


Flag of Lišane Ostrovičke

The symbols of Lišane Ostrovičke are prescribed by Decision Odluka o grbu i zastavi općine Lišane Ostrovičke, adopted on 3 May 1999 by the Municipality Assembly and published on 3 May 1999 in the County official gazette Službeni glasnik Zadarske županije, No. 4.
The symbols are described in the Municipality Statutes Statut Općine Lišane Ostrovičke, adopted on 17 November 2001 by the Municipality Assembly and published on 24 December 2001 in Službeni glasnik Zadarske županije, No. 11. This was repeated in the Municipality Statutes Statut Općine Lišane Ostrovičke, adopted on 16 January 2006 by the Municipality Assembly and published on 18 January 2006 in the Municipality official gazette Službeni glasnik općine Lišane Ostrovičke, No. 1, and in the current Municipality Statutes Statut Općine Lišane Ostrovičke, adopted on 3 August 2009 by the Municipality Assembly and published in Službeni glasnik općine Lišane Ostrovičke.

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

The flag (photo) is prescribed in Article 9 of the Decision as follows:

The flag of the Municipality is of a single colour, blue, with the coat of arms in the middle at the crossing point of the diagonals. The contour of the coat of arms is edged with a golden border. The flag has a ratio of length to width of 2:1. The flag is preserved in the office of the community Mayor.

Article 12 of the Municipal Statutes gives a shorter description of the flag:

The flag of the Municipality is of a single colour, blue, with the coat of arms in the middle at the crossing point of the diagonals. The contour of the coat of arms is edged with a golden border. The flag has a ratio of length to width of 2:1.

Željko Heimer, 12 October 2011


Coat of arms of Lišane Ostrovičke

[Municipality coat of arms]

Coat of arms of Lišane Ostrovičke - Image by Željko Heimer, 21 November 2009

The coat of arms is prescribed in Article 6 of the Decision as follows:

The coat of arms of the Municipality symbolizes the martyrdon and death of St. Nikola Tavelić, also being the patron saint of the parish of the Municipality of Lišane Ostrovičke. The graphical interpretation is consistent and credible, both in the contextual (symbolics) and morphological contexts.
The basic shape of the coat of arms represents the suffering of the Croatian man for the faith and survival in these regions.
The layout of the coat of arms is in a triangular, heart-shaped shield with a silver-white field, from the bottom of the shield, a red rising flame with three flaming tongues and three erected swords with silver blades and golden handles.
In the coloured version the coat of arms contains two colours, being:
- the red colour, in shape of three torches, symbolizing martyrdom and combustion in fire;
- the yellow colour (swords) symbolizing struggle, suffering and death.

Article 11 of the Municipal Statutes gives a shorter description of the coat of arms, omitting the symbolics:

A triangular, heart-shaped shield with a silver-white field, from the bottom of the shield, a red rising flame with three flamed tongues and three erect swords with silver blades and golden hilts.

The similarity with the coat of arms of Velika Ludina is evident, although I believe that there is no connection at all, except the same designer and, apparently, the same symbolics: the parish of all the three villages is in Lišane and is dedicated to St. Michael, whose attribute is an inflamed sword. I suppose that the three swords stands for the three villages.
I would also assume that the design has a secondary reference to the Homeland War - the destruction of the municipality under fire and the determination of defence by its inhabitants.

Željko Heimer, 12 October 2011