Red above, white below and a key that changes colour: the field of Unterwalden from the thirteenth century, with the key fixed in the official division of 1816.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a square field divided into two horizontal stripes (bands of colour) of the same height: red above and white below. A key (a key) runs from top to bottom through the centre and changes colour in each stripe.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
The key did not come with it: it comes from the old seal of the valley, made around 1240,…
Pope Julius II endorsed the story on his standard of 1512
the only thing that changed was the division of 1816
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Obwalden splits the field in two: red above, white below, and a crossed key that is white on the red and red on the white. Obwalden is the upper half of the old Unterwalden, a half-canton of central Switzerland.
The red and white were the field of all Unterwalden from the thirteenth century. The key did not come with it: it comes from the old seal of the valley, made around 1240, and adorned the pediment of the parliament in 1729-1731, but the plain coat of arms went on being used until 1816. About its origin there is a legend: it tells that in the year 398 the warriors of Unterwalden went down to Rome and freed Pope Anastasius I from the Goths of Alaric, and that as a reward they were allowed to bear the key of the arms of the Holy See; Pope Julius II endorsed the story on his standard of 1512. The most reasonable explanation, defended by the heraldist Adolphe Gauthier, is another: the country is under the advocacy of Saint Peter, and the key is his attribute.
The red and white have been kept since the thirteenth century; the only thing that changed was the division of 1816, when the Federal Diet of Zurich fixed a key for Obwalden and a double one for Nidwalden.
Red and white
the common field of Unterwalden; according to an unconfirmed hypothesis, the red would come from the war standard of the Empire.
Key
attribute of Saint Peter.
In 1481, Solothurn wanted to join the Confederation with the same red and white as Unterwalden; the people of Obwalden voted against it, although the admission went ahead.
The key comes from the seal made around 1240 for the lower valley. For centuries the Landammann (governor) kept it in his own house; today it is held in the archive of the State of Obwalden.
Test what you have read about the flag of Obwalden.
Flag image: Rudolf Münger, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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