Its coat of arms may be simple black and white, but life in the Region of Fribourg is bright and colourful! There are several legends surrounding how Fribourg came to have a two-tone coat of arms.
Some say that it was chosen to match the colour of its cows. Others claim that it was Berthold IV of Zähringen, the city’s founder, who was responsible. The story goes that he was caught in a flash storm while out hunting and sought refuge in a lowly coalman’s cottage, where he slept on a bed made from coal and flour sacks. When he awoke, he noticed that one side of his doublet was black and the other white. So, he decided that the canton’s coat of arms should also bear these colours in memory of the family’s generous hospitality.
