The flag of Pittsburgh is the official municipal flag of the City of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. It is a vertical bicolor triband of black and gold with the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

in the center. In 2004, the flag was ranked as the twenty-fourth best flag design out of 150 city flags by the

North American Vexillological Association The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith, and others. Its membership of 1,100+ comprises flag s ...

, and was the top-rated tricolor. In tribute to the flag, all four professional athletic teams in Pittsburgh in the sports of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

, and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

have black and gold as their team colors. The arms are based on those of

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 170811 May 1778) was a British people, British British Whig Party, Whig politician, statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1766 to 1768. Historians call him "Chatham" or "Pit ...

, namesake of the city.

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:

Insignia

Motto

The phrase ''Benigno Numine'' was the

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

of the Earl of Chatham. It is generally translated as "With the Benevolent Deity" or "By the Favour of the Heavens". It was adopted by the newly formed city in 1816 but somehow fell off seals and official documents and emblems in the early 20th century before being restored to the seal by City Council on July 3, 1950, and signed off by the Mayor on July 7, 1950. Even then, widespread use of the motto was not implemented until city council looked into the matter in November 1958.

Coat of arms and seal

The city of Pittsburgh's

is based on the arms of William Pitt, the first

Earl of Chatham Earl of Chatham, 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 of Viscount Pitt, of Burton ...

and the city's namesake. The crest of the city's coat of arms serves as a sort of

mural crown A mural crown () is a Crown (headgear), crown or headpiece representing city walls, fortified tower, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the ancient Rome, Romans ...

, featuring an image of a fortress. The

Fraternal Order of Police The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a fraternal organization consisting of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It reports a membership of over 355,000 members organized in 2,100 local chapters (lodges), state lodge ...

, whose first lodge was founded in Pittsburgh, additionally features the city's coat of arms within its emblem. The official

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 an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

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

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

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

References

External links

History of Flag and seal

{{Flags of cities in the United States

Pittsburgh Flags displaying animals Quadcolor flags Flags introduced in 1899