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Penza Region (Russia)

Penzenskaa^ oblasth

by Mello Luchtenberg, 17 Nov 2002

Presentation of Penza Region
About the flag
Previous, unofficial designs

See also:

Russia
Russian subdivisions (list and clickable map)

Other sites:

Flag page at the Official regional website
reported by Mello Luchtenberg and Horv�th Zolt�n, 17 Nov 2002
Site with more information about the proposed flag
reported by Jens Pattke, 18 Nov 2002

Presentation of Penza Region

(Note: You need an Unicode-aware software and font to correctely view the cyrillic text on this page. See here transliteration details).

Name (english): Penza Region • (russian): Пензенская область | Penzenskaâ oblasth
Capital: Пенза | Penza
Area: 43 200 km² (≅16 700 sq.mi.) • Population: 1 517 400 inhabitants in 2000
Status: Region (область | oblasth) within the Russian Federation
Federal District: Central Region • Economic region: Volga
License plate code: 58 • Ham radio code: PE • ISO 3166-2 code: PNZ
Flag adopted on 2002.11.15 • Coat of arms adopted on unkn. date

About the flag

The flag proposal was introduced by chairman Victor Lazutkin. The flag is rectangular with one vertical and one horizontal of the stripes: vertical is green (grassy) color, horizontal is yellow (golden) of colors. In the center of flag the symbolic image of Saviour Nerukotvorny is located. As it is explained in the project, green color symbolizes nature of region, its forests, and also fertility, eternal life and health. Yellow symbolizes fields, wisdom, knowledge, light, abundant crops, prospect. The symbolic image of Saviour Nerukotvorny symbolizes spirituality, unity, national revival. Under such banners with Saviour Nerukotvorny�s image Russian troops struggled in Kulikovo field, in the Crimea and in Livonia, and Yermak under this flag mastered Siberia. Arrangement on the flag of the symbolic means of Saviour developers connect also with the nationwide status of the christian holidays noted in Penza region � honey, apple and bread Saviours, who fall at the end of the summer.
Mark Sensen, 17 Nov 2002, translating from http://www.58region.ru/penza/2002%20Nov%201103.htm

At http://www.58region.ru/ there is a photo of the flag and when you click on it you see a bigger photo of it. You can also click on the text under the flag in the upper left corner, there is an explanation (all in russian) about the flag. If I'm correct than the ratio is 5:8.
Mello Luchtenberg, 17 Nov 2002

For some reason the proposal is to center the face on the flag, not on the golden field. The website http://www.58region.ru/ says that this flag is only a proposal, to be considered by the Legislative Assembly during its current session. But the heraldry site http://geraldika.ru/symbols/1721, gives the date of adoption as 15 November 2002, two days after the opening of the session.
John Ayer, 18 Nov 2002

The head represent the Holy Face and the banner with this head was shown in the war of Kulikovo Pole in 1380. It is black or purple, historians don�t agree on the color.
Arnaud Leroy, 18 Nov 2002

The icon on which this image is based is from the late XII-early XIII centuries, and is preserved in the Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow). "Нерукотворный" means "not made by hands", that is, a miraculous image, like that of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Such images enjoy great prestige in the Russian Orthodox Church, as I understand.
John Ayer, 18 Nov 2002

Having tried to learn something about Orthodox iconography a few years back, I believe that any given "Нерукотворный" icon is not necessarily "not made by hands" but that the original pattern of the icon � in Latin the "vera icon" which is of course an anagram of "Veronica" [as in St. Veronica, who is said to have weapt Jesus� face in the Via Sacra; the towel was miraculously imprinted with the Saviour�s likeness] � was not made by hands. So in this case, at least, the fact that there are many such icons is not absurd on the face of it (no pun intended).
Joe McMillan, 19 Nov 2002

In 1380 the realm of the Golden Horde was threatened by internal strife between throne pretenders. One of them was Mamai, who was met by a host of Muscovy warriors, led by Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich. After a fierce battle (not war) the Muscovites prevailed on the field of Kulikovo � Куликово Поле, now in the southeast of Tula oblast, Russia. The victory gained Dmitrii the epithet "Donskoi", "of the Don". Actually it seems that the place is not exactly known: Mamai and Dmitrii met �beyond the Don River� (Задонщина, title of a famous epic.)
Jarig Bakker, 18 Nov 2002,
quoting Charles J. Halperin (1985): Russia and the Golden Horde

Penza is c. 300 km to the east from Tula, so it seems a bit odd that that oblast is now presented with the Kulikovo-flag.
Jarig Bakker, 18 Nov 2002

Previous, unofficial designs

At http://www.regnum.ru/allnews/33626.html there's a text about the adoption of the flag of Penza oblast. Nothing is official but the version of 3 horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red (the green stripe being larger than the 2 others) with the 3 garbs from the CoA on the green stripe seems to have good chances to be adopted. Antoher variant would be a green flag with the 3 garbs in the center.
Pascal Gross, 07 Oct 2002