Kempten

Heraldry of the World
Civic heraldry of Germany - Deutsche Wappen (Gemeindewappen/Kreiswappen)

KEMPTEN

State : Bayern
Urban district (Stadtkreis) : Kempten
Additions : 1972 Sankt Lorenz, Sankt Mang

Official blazon

Gespalten; von Schwarz und Silber; vorne am Spalt ein halber goldener Adler, hinten auf grünem Dreiberg ein roter Zinnenturm mit offenem Tor.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on December 12, 1488 and confirmed on January 5, 1819.

Kempten was an Imperial city in medieval times and thus entitled to use the imperial eagle in its arms and seals. The oldest seals, however do not show the eagle. The oldest seal dates from 1379 and shows the patron saint of the city at the time, St. Gordianus, with a small shield. Later sources indicate that the shield was horizontally divided from silver and blue. The second seal dates from 1403 and shows St. Hildegard, who was combined with the arms in a later 15^th century seal. In 1488 Emperor Friedrich III granted the city new arms, a vertically divided shield gold and black, with the imperial eagle in the opposite colours.

In the late 16^th century the city started to use the symbols used on the local coins, an eagle with the letter K on its breast. These arms were used until 1819.

In 1818 the city was combined with the Imperial Abbey Kempten and the new arms showed the imperial eagle from the city arms, and a tower taken from the arms of the Abbey.