Symbole samorządowe Białej. Z prac nad herbem, flagą i pieczęciami urzędowymi gminy
Symbols of the self-goverment of Biała. On the work of the coat-of-arms, flag and official seal of the community

Summary/Abstract: The reform of the administrative structure, carried out in Poland in the 1990s, granted the units of local government the right to have their own symbols, most of all a coat of arms and a flag, which resulted in a widespread process of establishing them, not always in accordance with the rules of heraldry and local or regional tradition. Municipal authorities of the Biała municipality (Prudnik county) also decided to regulate this issue. However, it turned out that the coat of arms established in a city council resolution adopted on June 28, 2012, did not met the requirements of the state act granting the local governments such power. Various coats of arms of Biała, used in different periods of the town history and displayed in its public space, while presenting a similar representation of the city walls with a gate tower extending from the face of the walls and adorned on its top with the coat of arms of the von Proskau family, the lords of the town, differed among themselves regarding the details of the coat of arms exposition (height of the walls, number of merlons, construction and color of the portcullis, shape of the escutcheon of the von Proskau coat of arms, presence or lack of embrasures). Following a detailed analysis of the iconographic sources, with a special attention paid to the surviving municipal seals of Biała from the 17th and 18th century, the incorrect coat of arms of the municipality used at that time has been corrected based on the image from the oldest preserved municipal seal. In turn, the new coat of arms became a basis for designing the municipal flag and official seals of the municipality. The former, due to long-lasting municipal traditions of Biała dating back to the turn of 13th and 14th century, was given a form of a heraldic flag, i.e. rectangle in the color of the escutcheon’s field with the badge from the coat of arms in its middle, relating in this way to the tradition of medieval flags and banners. The tradition of medieval sigillography was also referred to regarding the official municipal seal, which took a round form, exposing the legend in majuscule stating the holder, as well as the emblem from the coat of arms (without the escutcheon). The project of the coat of arms, flag and seal of Biała received a positive opinion of the Heraldic Commission during a session on May 15, 2015, and on June 2, 2015 this decision was signed by the Minister of Administration and Digitalization. The City council of Biała adopted the positively opined symbols during a session on July 22, 2015, and its resolution regarding this issue, together with visual standards and descriptions of the coat of arms, flag and official seal were published in the Official Journal of the Opole Province (Dziennik Urzędowy Województwa Opolskiego) on July 24, 2015.

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