Rheinland-Pfalz — Coat of Arms and Flag

Federal State	Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Capital	Mainz
Coat of Arms adopted	10 May 1948
Flag adopted	1948
Colors	Black, red, gold (flag); argent, sable, or (arms)
Region	Southwest Germany

Blazon

Per pale and per fess: I. Argent, a cross sable (Trier); II. Argent, a wheel of six spokes sable (Mainz); III. Sable, a lion rampant or (Palatinate). The whole ensigned with a people's crown (Volkskrone) of gold.

Elements and Symbolism

• Black cross on silver (Trier) — the arms of the Archbishopric and Electorate of Trier, one of the most powerful ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire, whose territory formed a large part of present-day western Rheinland-Pfalz.
• Mainzer Rad — black wheel on silver (Mainz) — the six-spoked cartwheel of the Archbishopric and Electorate of Mainz, borne since the 13th century and one of the best-known symbols of the Middle Rhine region. The state capital Mainz takes its name from this electoral see.
• Golden lion rampant on black (Palatinate) — the lion of the Electoral Palatinate of the Rhine (Kurpfalz), a dynasty of the House of Wittelsbach that dominated much of the middle Rhine valley until the 17th century.
• People's crown (Volkskrone) — a civic crown of gold with no royal pretension, adopted in 1948 in place of the princely crowns of the former rulers, symbolizing the sovereignty of the people in the new democratic state.

Historical Development

None of the three territories depicted had historically formed a single polity. The Electorate of Trier controlled the Moselle valley and western Eifel; the Electorate of Mainz held the Rheingau and Rheinhessen; and the Palatinate ruled the Rhenish lowlands east and west of the Rhine. The French administration that drew the boundaries of Rheinland-Pfalz in 1946 deliberately combined these three ancient Electoral arms to give the new state a heraldic identity rooted in the pre-Napoleonic past of the region, rather than in Prussian or Napoleonic administrative divisions. The coat of arms was formally adopted on 10 May 1948 by state government ordinance.

Colors and Design

The flag of Rheinland-Pfalz displays the German national tricolor — three equal horizontal stripes of black, red, and gold — with a canton in the upper hoist side bearing the state coat of arms. The tricolor occupies the full fly, while the canton shows the tripartite shield on a reduced scale, clearly distinguishing the state flag from the plain federal tricolor.

Historical Origin

The design follows the model established for several West German states after 1945: the federal colors provide continuity with the democratic tradition of 1848 and the Weimar Republic, while the state arms in the canton give individual identity. The flag was officialized by state ordinance in 1948, the same year as the coat of arms.

Modern Usage

The flag is flown on all state government buildings, the Landtag (state parliament), and official delegations. A service flag (Dienstflagge) bearing the arms centered on the tricolor is used by state authorities on water. Citizens may fly the plain black-red-gold tricolor; the flag with the canton is the official state flag.

What does the coat of arms of Rheinland-Pfalz represent?

The tripartite shield combines three historic Electoral territories along the Rhine: the black cross of Trier, the Mainzer Rad of Mainz, and the golden lion of the Electoral Palatinate (Kurpfalz). Together they reflect the state's 1946 merger of former ecclesiastical and secular principalities of the Holy Roman Empire.

When was the coat of arms of Rheinland-Pfalz officially adopted?

The coat of arms was officialized by state ordinance on 10 May 1948, shortly after the state's establishment on 18 August 1946 under French occupation authority.

What is the blazon of the Rheinland-Pfalz coat of arms?

Per pale and per fess: I. Argent, a cross sable (Trier); II. Argent, a wheel of six spokes sable (Mainz); III. Sable, a lion rampant or (Palatinate). Ensigned with a people's crown of gold.

What do the colors of the Rheinland-Pfalz flag mean?

The black, red, and gold stripes are the colors of the German national flag, expressing solidarity with the Federal Republic and the democratic tradition of 1848. The coat of arms in the canton identifies the specific state and its three historical territories.

What is the Mainzer Rad?

The Mainzer Rad (Wheel of Mainz) is a black six-spoked cartwheel on a silver field, the heraldic symbol of the Archbishopric and Electorate of Mainz since the 13th century. It appears as the second quarter of the Rheinland-Pfalz coat of arms and is also the coat of arms of the city of Mainz.

• Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz — historical records of the Electoral principalities of Trier, Mainz and the Palatinate
• Staatskanzlei Rheinland-Pfalz — official description of state symbols
• Gert Oswald, Lexikon der Heraldik, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1984
• Ottfried Neubecker, Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning, McGraw-Hill, 1976

Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on June 29, 2026.