Hejnice

About the place: Hejnice is a picturesque town situated at the northern foot of the Jizera Mountains in the Liberec District of northern Bohemia, widely renowned as a historic Marian pilgrimage site with the Baroque Basilica of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary and a former Franciscan monastery.

Flag Description: The flag consists of a vertical hoist stripe occupying one-third of the flag's length, divided horizontally red over green in a 5:3 ratio, and three horizontal stripes in the fly of blue, yellow, and blue in a width ratio of 3:2:3. In the red hoist section, resting on the dividing line, stands the white facade of a pilgrimage basilica between two towers; each tower features a black semicircular entrance with steps, two black windows, a lantern, and an onion dome with a finial and patriarchal cross. The central nave front with an arched entrance and window is crowned by a drum dome and onion cupola with a patriarchal cross. Rising from the bottom edge of the green field are three divergent yellow ears of wheat (the center ear with two leaves, the outer ears with one). In the fly, across the blue stripes and beneath the yellow central stripe, is a white uprooted spruce tree, charged on the yellow stripe with a black cogwheel. The width-to-length ratio is 2:3.

Symbolism: The church facade represents the centuries-old history of Hejnice as a famed Marian pilgrimage site. The green field and golden ears of grain symbolize regional agriculture and fertility. The uprooted spruce honours the surrounding woodlands and Mount Smrk, the highest peak in the Czech part of the Jizera Mountains. The blue field and yellow stripe derive from the ancestral arms of the Counts of Gallas (later Clam-Gallas), who historically developed the town, while the black cogwheel marks the industrial growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that led to Hejnice being granted town status in 1917.