ABC for tourists

Coat of Arms

Till 1784, when four Prague boroughs (Old Town, New Town, Hradčany and Lesser Town) were united in one unit, each of them had been using its proper coat of arms. United Prague took over the coat of arms of Old Town as a seat of Municipality. In the course of time, the coat of arms has been slightly changed. The present form dates back to 1991.

In the centre of the coat of arms, there is a red shield. A golden fortification having an open gate with a golden thrown up lattice is situated in the shield’s lower part. A silver sword carrying silver arm rising from the gate was acquired by the Old Town after the successful defence of Charles Bridge against the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War. In the upper part of the shield, there are three golden spires with windows terminated with a golden castellated wall and roofs with finials. This shield is used also separately as a so-called small coat of arms of Prague.

 On the shield, there are three helmets with golden crowns; the middle one carries a double-tailed silver lion, each of side helmets carries 12 flags of armorial towns or boroughs. 
Two silver double-tailed Czech lions with golden crowns hold the shield from both sides. Under them, there is a red ribbon with a golden inscription PRAGA CAPUT REI PUBLICAE.

The author of a graphic form of the new coat of arms of Prague is the artist Karel Pánek.
The coat of arms of Prague may be used only after the prior approval of the Municipal Council of Prague having all copyright thereto.

Flag

The flag bears the colours derived from the coat of arms of Prague. It is divided into two longitudinal stripes, the upper one being yellow, the lower one red. The flag may be used also only after the prior approval of the Municipal Council of Prague.

Logo

Early in 2002, Prague invited tenders for a project of a new visual style of the city presentation including the new logo.
The logo is not supposed to replace the historical city coat of arms; on the contrary, it should protect it against improper and too frequent usage.
From now on, the coat of arms should be used exclusively in official and ceremonial occasions.
The logo used since 2003, has been based on the city colours – a red square is vertically bisected by a white line splitting an aurelian inscription Prague in four language versions written in a columnar form.