Esternberg

Heraldry of the World Civic heraldry of Austria - Österreichische Gemeindewappen

ESTERNBERG

State : Oberösterreich
District : Schärding

Origin/meaning :
The arms were granted on September 6, 1976.

The lower part of the arms show a goat. The goat is taken from a local legend. In the village is the Krempelstein castle, also known as the tailor's castle (Schneiderschlössl). In the walls of the castle once lived a tailor who had a goat. When the goat was dying, he decided to end the suffering by throwing the goat from the wall. Unfortunately he got stuck to the horns of the goat and fell into the castle moat and drowned. The goat rises from a canting mountain (Berg).

The three crowns in the chief are derived from the Nibelungenlied story. In the legend the three Burgundian Kings, Gunther, Gernot and Giselher, crossed the Inn river in the present municipality. The red colour indicates their blood, as they did not survive the crossing.

Literature : Baumert, H.E. : Oberösterreichische Gemeindewappen, Linz, 1996.