The flag of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a tricolor flag

Tricolour

A tricolour is a flag or banner more-or-less equally divided into three bands of differing colours...

 featuring vertical bands of black and gold. The coat of arms of the City of Pittsburgh is charged in the center of the gold stripe.

In 2004, the flag was ranked 24th best flag design

Vexillology

Vexillology is the scholarly study of flags. The word is a synthesis of the Latin word vexillum, meaning 'flag', and the Greek suffix -logy, meaning 'study'. The vexillum was a particular type of flag used by Roman legions during the classical era; its name is a diminutive form of the word velum...

 out of 150 city flags by the North American Vexillological Association

North American Vexillological Association

The North American Vexillological Association is a membership organization devoted to "vexillology as the scientific study of flags." Flag researchers, designers, collectors, activists, merchants, and other enthusiasts from the United States and Canada meet annually at NAVA meetings in order to...

, and was the top-rated tricolor.

Design of the flag

The flag is defined in the Code of Ordinances, City of Pittsburgh, Title I, Article I, Chapter 103, Section 3 as follows:
The following shall be the forms, devices and colors

Tincture (heraldry)

In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...

 of the City civic flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

, ensign

Ensign

An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...

, pennant and streamer

Streamer

Streamer or streamers may refer to:* Pennon, a small pointed flag* Campaign streamer, flag used by military units* Paper streamer* Positive streamer, lightning bolt* Streamer moth, the geometer moth Anticlea derivata...

: the colors in the several forms shall be black and gold, of the hues or tints as expressed upon the pattern, and the exact copy of which is on file in the office of the City Clerk.
The civic flag, or standard of the City, shall be as follows: the material shall be American-made bunting or silk of the colors or hues above designated, ten (10) feet in length and six (6) feet in width, or in proportion thereto. The same shall be parted vertically per pale

Pale (heraldry)

A pale is a term used in heraldic blazon and vexillology to describe a charge on a coat of arms , that takes the form of a band running vertically down the center of the shield. Writers broadly agree that the width of the pale ranges from about one-fifth to about one-third of the width of the...

 in three (3) equal parts, of which the first and [third] shall be black and the second or middle pale gold. Upon the latter shall be blazoned the City arms, as borne upon the City seal, and the same shall be blazoned upon the middle, and occupy one-third (1/3) of the surface thereof.

The civic flag shall be displayed upon public building, at meetings of Councils and upon suitable public occasions, provided that it shall never be displayed in any position that indicates superiority or precedence to the United States flag

Flag of the United States

The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...

.

The City ensign or merchant flag

Civil ensign

The civil ensign is the national flag flown by civil ships to denote nationality...

 shall be composed and parted as provided for the civic flag or standard in subsection (b) hereof; except that instead of the entire City arms there shall be blazoned upon the central pale the crest of the City arms, surrounded by thirteen (13) five-pointed dark blue stars, in a circle, whose diameter shall be four-fifths (4/5) of the width of the pale. The length or fly shall be six (6) feet, the depth or hoist four (4) feet six (6) inches or in proportion thereto.
The City pennant shall be a triangular piece of gold bunting five (5) feet in length by four (4) feet in width, or in proportion thereto. In the center thereof shall be placed a black triangular field two (2) feet in width and three (3) feet in length, upon which shall be displayed the crest of the City arms and a circle of blue stars, as borne upon the City ensign.
The City streamer shall be made of materials and colors above indicated two (2) feet in width and fifteen (15) feet in length, or in proportion thereto. The black shall be borne next to the staff, and shall be in length one-fourth (1/4) the length of the streamer, and shall bear upon the center thereof the City crest, gold or gilded.

Coat of arms and seal

The City of Pittsburgh's coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is based on the family arms of William Pitt

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham PC was a British Whig statesman who led Britain during the Seven Years' War...

, the first Earl of Chatham

Earl of Chatham

Earl of Chatham, in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1766 for William Pitt the Elder on his appointment as Lord Privy Seal, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Pitt, of Burton Pynsent in the County of Somerset, also in the Peerage of Great...

 and the city's namesake. The crest of the city's coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

, an image of a fortress, represents the city of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, serving as a mural crown

Mural crown

-Usage in ancient times:In Hellenistic culture, a mural crown identified the goddess Tyche, the embodiment of the fortune of a city, familiar to Romans as Fortuna...

 of sorts.

The official blazon

Blazon

In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...

 of the city's coat of arms, as defined by a 1925 city ordinance, is as follows:

On a field Sable, a fess chequay Argent et Azure, between three bezants bearing eagles rising with wings displayed and inverted Or. For crest, Sable a triple-towered castle masoned Argent.

The design of the seal

Seal (device)

A seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...

 of Pittsburgh, is defined in the Code of Ordinances, City of Pittsburgh, Title I, Article I, Chapter 103, Section 2 as follows:

(a) The great seal of the City and the lesser seals of the same shall be of the following design:

(1) The great seal is a circle bearing in its center the arms and the crest of the City and upon its periphery a belt or band of Roman capital letters forming the legend "The Seal of the City of Pittsburgh, 1816, Benigno Numine."

(2) Lesser seals are the great seal of the City with this addition: on an arc of a circle having the same center as, but shorter radius than, the aforesaid legend, and placed directly below the City arms, the proper designation of the sealing office, as "Office of the Mayor," "Office of the City Clerk" or the like, such designation to be in Roman capital letters, smaller than, but of like face to those used in the peripheral legend.

(b) Hereafter all dies, engravings, plates or reproductions of the great seal and lesser seals of the City shall conform strictly to the aforesaid description, and the City arms and crest as used thereon shall adhere strictly to the official graphic rendering of the arms and crest as preserved in the archives in Council.

Motto

The phrase Benigno Numine is the motto

Motto

A motto is a phrase meant to formally summarize the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used. The local language is usual in the mottoes of governments...

of William Pitt. It is generally translated as "With the Benevolent Deity" or "By the Favour of the Heavens".

External links

• Flags of the World page for Pittsburgh's flag