Elgg
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Heraldry of the World Civic heraldry of Switzerland - Schweizer Wappen / Armorial de Suisse |
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ELGG
Canton : Zürich
Official blazon
Origin/meaning
The arms were adopted on May 5, 1927.
The three bear heads are derived from the arms of the St. Gallen Abbey (which shows a black bear in silver), to which the village historically belonged. The silver bar is derived from the arms of the medieval Lords of Elgg and is known from the seal of Eberhard von Elgg von 1288. The Lords of Elgg where stewards for the Abbey and already in 1268 Walter von Elgg used a bear in his crest.
The arms appeared for the first time on the seal of the city dating from 1395. On this seal the bear, however, have no collar. The collar appeared in 1512 on a banner and since 1557 on the seal of the city. Due to bad drawings and lack of historical knowledge, the bears were sometimes shown as dogs in the 18th and 19th century.
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 Variations of the arms in the Kaffee Hag albums 1914-1960 |
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Literature : Ziegler, 1977