Sewn to measure. On time. Every time.
Sewn to measure. On time. Every time.
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Basel City Flag

SKU: A34 Category: Portfolio:

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33,70 €
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At your door Monday 9 November — Standard

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60 days
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24 months
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ExpressWed 4 Novat your door
StandardMon 9 Novat your door
EconomyFri 20 Novat your door

Specifications

Description

Basel City Flag

The black staff on white: the flag of Basel-Stadt

The flag of Basel-Stadt has a rare elegance: a white field and, in the centre, a black crozier, the curved staff of bishops, with its curl turned toward the pole. At the bottom the staff widens and ends in three points. The people of Basel call it the Baselstab, the «staff of Basel», and it has been the sign of the city on the Rhine for centuries.

From the bishop's crozier

The crozier is the shepherd's staff that guides the flock, the sign of a bishop's authority. Basel was for centuries a bishops' city, and its arms were born from their staff. The shape is highly stylised, shortened and thickened until it is almost abstract, and it was already established by 1249. The three points at the bottom recall a real detail: the spike of pastoral staffs, which allowed them to be planted in the ground.

From red to black

The crozier was originally red, the bishop's colour, and in the 14th century, when the city acquired its rights from the bishop, it turned black for the city. In 1501 Basel joined the Confederation; in 1529 the Reformation took hold there. The black crozier remained, by now the sign of the city and no longer of the bishop.

Italian silk for the oldest banner

The oldest known banner of Basel, from the second half of the 15th century, is a white Italian silk damask with a pomegranate pattern, with the black staff sewn on it. It is kept at the Historical Museum of Basel, together with other flags of the city. Beside the shield, from the late 15th century, the basilisks often appear, the heraldic animals that hold up the arms.

A city that became a canton

In 1833 the canton of Basel divided into two half-cantons: Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. The city kept the black crozier turned toward the pole; the countryside chose a red crozier turned the other way. Today the black Baselstab flies over the Rhine, over the university founded in 1460 and during the days of Basel Carnival, the largest in Switzerland: it begins on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, lasts exactly 72 hours and has been UNESCO intangible heritage of humanity since 2017.

Who chooses it

For anyone from Basel or with roots there, for those living far away who want it in the window, for a commune, a school or a club, for those who live Basel Carnival, for Swiss associations abroad, for the 1st of August national day, for fans of Basel's teams, for a hotel, a restaurant, a bar on the Rhine or a shop of Basel products, for visitors to the city. We sew it to order, in the size and fabric you choose above, and you see the delivery date before you pay.

Flag facts

Official name
Kanton Basel-Stadt
Validity
Current
Years in use
unknown · period Before 1500
ISO code
CH-BS
Use
Not applicable
Proportions
1:1
Shape
Square
Number of colours
2
Design
Plain

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