Flag of Östergötland

The Official Flag of Östergötland (Swedish: Östergötland flagga ) is a coat of arms banner with the coat of arms of the Swedish province of Östergötland as a motive.

On a red background is there a golden dragon with wings and tail, blue tongue and claws. Every corner is filled with a silver rose. The coat of arms was introduced on 18 January 1884 on the basis of two previous coat of arms and revised in 1972.

Unofficial flag

In addition, there is an unofficial version of the flag of Östergötland. It is a Scandinavian cross flag, as found mainly in the Nordic countries, and corresponds to the Sweden flag with colors reversed position: blue cross on a yellow background. The blue cross symbolizing the two channels Göta Canal and Kinda Canal, both of which lead through the historic province of Östergötland. The yellow color represents the östergötländische level and its fertile cornfields.

The flag was designed by the publisher Per Andersson from Mjölby and presented to the public in 1972. Beginning of the eighties started them on the mentioned as " Vätterlandet " initiative of several municipalities in Östergötland use for tourism purposes. However, the level of awareness of the flag is still limited, even among the Östergötländern they do not know many.

The configuration of the flag is not new. Already the government ( Landskapsstyrelsen ) of the Finnish autonomy province and archipelago of Åland suggested a yellow blue cross flag as a flag of the archipelago, which was later called " Pestflagge " ( Pestflaggan ). The parliamentarians from Landstinget of Åland rejected the proposal because they did not like the design.