GHDI logo


The Flags of the Guilds (1815)

Guild flags, etching from 1815. Over the centuries, the guilds had developed into a pillar of the existing economic order. As this etching makes clear, they had their own elaborate system of signs and insignia. In the period leading up the revolution of 1848/49, the power of the guilds became increasingly subject to criticism as advocates of occupational freedom challenged their validity.

print version     return to image list last image in previous chapter      next image

The Flags of the Guilds (1815)

Original: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kunstbibliothek.
© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz