Kriens

From Heraldry of the World
Jump to navigation Jump to search

KRIENS

Canton : Luzern

Wappen von Kriens/Arms (crest) of Kriens

Official blazon

Origin/meaning

The arms show the patron saint St. Gallus and the bear, his symbol, to which he gives a piece of bread. Normally only the bear is used on arms as symbol of St. Gallus, the arms of Kriens are the only exception. According to legend a bear helped St. Gallus to collect wood in the forest.

In 2017 Kriens became a city-municipality and thus wanted to change the corporate identity. The arms were also redesigned with regard to the type of bread the saint was handing to the bear. The old version showed a round-type bread, known as a St. Gallen-bread. A second version shows the local Luzerner Weggen bread, the final version an undefined type of bread.

Siegel von Kriens

The official version of the arms until 2017
Siegel von Kriens

The first proposal to change the arms in 2017

The change spurred a discussion in the town, which also involved the size and shape of the bear, which, from a heraldic point of view, is not relevant, as each artist may show it differently anyway. The type of bread, however, has a characteristic shape.

Historically the bread has never been described and thus has been shown in a number of variations. As the saint lived much earlier as the existence of the village ans its arms, the bread historically can never have been the Luzerner Wegge. As a local symbol, however, it would be a good attribute. In the end the decision was made not to have a specific type of bread.

There are two legends regarding the bread; the first is that St. Gallus, when confronted with the sudden appearance of a bear, asked him to trow some wood in the fire.As a reward the bear received some bread and was asked not to return. In the second legend the saint provides some bread to a bear and then asked the bear to built a monastery, the St. Gallen Abbey.

Siegel von Kriens

Seal from 1792
Wappen von Kriens/Coat of arms (crest) of Kriens

The arms on the town hall
Wappen von/Blason de Kriens

Variations of the arms in the Kaffee Hag albums 1914-1960
Wappen von/Blason de Kriens



Swiss heraldry portal



This page is part of the
Switzerland.jpg
Swiss heraldry portal


Logo-new.jpg
Heraldry of the World

Swiss civic heraldry:



  • Total pages in the Swiss section : 13,281
  • of which images : 6,865

Other heraldry:


Contact and Support

Partners:

Your logo here ?
Contact us



© since 1995, Heraldry of the World, Ralf Hartemink Ralf Hartemink arms.jpg
Index of the site

Literature : Mühlmann, L. : Wappen und Fahnen der Schweiz, Bühler Verlag, Lengnau, 1977 and 1997; Bischof, 2017a,b,c