
Last modified: 2021-08-25 by  christopher oehler
 christopher oehler
Keywords: stockholm | crown | saint erik | saint olof | saint olav | orb | griffin head | 
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![[flag of Stockholm county]](../images/s/se-01.gif) illustration by Mello
Luchtenberg
 illustration by Mello
Luchtenberg
See also:
Metropolitan Stockholm (also known as Greater Stockholm or, in Swedish, 
Storstockholm), is a metropolitan area surrounding the Swedish capital of 
Stockholm. Since 2005, Metropolitan Stockholm is defined by official Swedish 
Statistics (http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/OV9999_2004A01_BR_X20OP0502.pdf) 
as all of Stockholm County. It is the largest of
the three metropolitan areas 
in Sweden.
Esteban Rivera, 23 June 2017
The arms of the County of Stockholm was granted in 1968, when the County of Stockholm (the land around the capital) was merged with the Overgovernorship of Stockholm (which was coextensive with the City of Stockholm). The arms, and the flag (which is a banner of the arms) are put together of the arms of the City of Stockholm, the arms of Upland and the arms of Södermanland (the later "heraldically abbreviated" to a griffin's head instead of a griffin).
This flag has been hanging outside the building of the county board (länsstyrelsen)
  in Stockholm, but when I walked past that house some weeks ago, they had
  changed the flags and now had a white flag with the arms thereupon, crowned
  with a royal crown.
  Elias Granqvist 01 October 2000
Sköld, genom en uppåtriktad kil av guld, vari ett avslitet svart griphuvud med näbb och tunga röda, kluven i blått, vari ett krönt S:t Erikshuvud av guld, och i rött, vari ett riksäpple av guld.
Per pile Azure crowned St. Erik's Head Or and Gules a Royal Orb of the
  third gemmed of the field and of the second and overall on a pile inverted Or
  a Griffin's Head erased Sable beaked and langued Gules.
  English blazon by Željko Heimer, 04 October 2000
![[Flag of the earlier County of Stockholm]](../images/s/se-b01.gif) illustration by Dirk Schönberger
illustration by Dirk Schönberger
The flag was a banner of the arms; arms granted on 7 February 1941
The coat of arms was used until 1968.
  Falko Schmidt, 24 March 2001
The orb which the griffin is holding should be fully on the red field of
  the shield .
  The red (Gules) half of the shield was actually added just because the orb,
  which is of gold (Or), should not be upon the golden field. This is not
  possible, when using exactly the same image of a griffin as in the arms on
  that page. It lies in the nature of heraldry, that if the shield or the field
  on which a charge is placed upon is changed in its form, the charge should
  change position accordingly. Thus, on a banner of arms, the griffin should
  fill out the quadratic "shield" created by the flag cloth. When
  doing that, the griffin probably would be able to hold the orb within the red
  field. One should get another heraldic griffin holding an orb (i.e. re-draw
  the griffin), so the orb could be a little lowered.
  Elias Granqvist and Dirk Schönberger, 25/26 March 2001
I av guld och rött styckat fält en upprest, svart grip med blå beväring, därest dylik skall komma till användning, och med båda framklorna bärande ett riksäpple av guld
The following communes are in this county (lan). The codes following the name are assigned by Sweden for statistical purposes.