This week's collection of whimsical and curious stories will continue last week's brief excursion into the world of flags. However, this time we will look at Russia (or more specifically, the flags of some of its many territories, cities, and districts).
Splitting atoms - As some of you might remember, flag design principle #1 of the North American Vexillological Association reminds flag designers to "keep it simple". You might argue that "bear splitting atom" is not exactly a simple topic to represent on a flag, but luckily the good people of Zheleznogorsk disagreed when they designed the following flag:
For context, the town was established in the 1950s to support the production of weapons-grade plutonium. To hide its identity, it was not shown on any Soviet map and just referred to by its P.O. Box number "Krasnoyarsk-26". Luckily, the curtain of secrecy was lifted in the 1990s and it has gifted the world an excellent flag.
More bears - Given the country, bears are popular heraldic animals across its many flags. However, not all of them look menacing (or are in the process of ripping apart atoms). The region of Perm is a case in point:
Bob the beaver - Luckily, even small districts have flags. The Moscow district of Khoroshyovo-Mnyovnikiwent went for a very Canadian motive - the beaver. It is unclear why this neighborhood of 15 square miles feels represented by a giant beaver who seems very satisfied with an all-bricks dam but we are here to admire and not to judge.
Frozen - We will end our brief excursion into Russian flags in the town of Srednekolymsk, a place that (even for Russian standards) seems to be located very precisely in the middle of nowhere. It is difficult to find a place in Russia that is further away from Moscow without being greeted by the coast guard of Alaska. Its daily mean temperature in January drops to -38°C/-36°F and so it comes as no surprise that a number of ice age creatures (like the high-spirited mammoth on its flag) are being discovered in the frozen ground.
For those who have not had enough of Russian flags, here is a Link with a few more example.
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