Amstetten (Niederösterreich)

AMSTETTEN

State : Niederösterreich
District : Amstetten

Official blazon

(de) Ein von Silber über Blau quergeteilter Schild. In dem oberen Felde springt aus der Teilungslinie ein roter, ebenso bezungter und golden bewehrter Wolf hervor. Das untere Feld ist von einem gewellten Wasser durchzogen. Den Schild umgibt eine ornamentale bronzefarbene Einfassung, auf deren Hauptrande eie silberne Mauerkrone mit fünf sichtbaren Zinnen ruht.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on April 6, 1914.

By imperial resolution of November 29, 1897, the market town of Amstetten was raised to the status of a town. Just a few weeks later, efforts were made to obtain official approval for a city coat of arms. With regard to the heraldic animal, the idea was to use the ibex coming from a wavy base as was used by the town for some time. Formal approval from the Imperial heraldic court was, however, not obtained (reason why is unknown).

Around the middle of 1913, the city council of Amstetten initiated further heraldic investigations. This did not result in a clear answer. did not lead to any clear results. The Imperial Ministry of the Interior asked the city council on February 20, 1914 to propose a design which the city thought to be appropriate.

The heraldist Hugo Gerard Ströhl had already recorded in his book on Austrian city arms (1904) an image of the city arms using an ibex (see below), but also reasoned that, based on an old seal dated from 1568 the ibex should actually be a wolf, which was misinterpreted in time as an ibex. He therefore proposed arms with a red wolf instead of an ibex. This red wolf is taken from the arms of the Diocese of Passau, to which the town historically belonged. He also divided the lower half in two parts, with the wavy part reduced to the lower quarter of the shield, also based on the design of the seal.

On March 11, 1914 the council agreed on the proposal from Ströhl and applied for these arms. The arms were granted soon thereafter on April 6, 1914.

Seal from 1568	Seal from around 1900
The arms by Lind, 1885	The arms by Ströhl, 1904
The arms in the Coffee Hag album +/- 1932	The arms in the Abadie albums
Postal cancellation 1941	The arms in the town