Flag of the Czech Republic

History

The traditional colours of the Czech lands originated from an 1192 coat of arms (depicting a rampant lion with a double silver tail on a field of red).

After the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918, the country had been using the red and white flag of Bohemia, almost identical to the Polish flag officially adopted in 1919. Following calls for a new flag to be adopted, a committee picked a design by Jaroslav Kursa, an archivist in the Czechoslovak Ministry of the Interior. His design included the red and white horizontal stripes derived from the coat of arms of Bohemia and added a blue chevron extended halfway.

The flag was officially approved by the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia on 30 March 1920 and since then, it has been in continuous use, with the exception of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. Additionally, during a short period following the Velvet Revolution, between 1990 and 1992, the Czech part of the Czechoslovak federated state adopted the previous red and white flag.

During the 1992 negotiations on the split of Czechoslovakia, a clause forbidding the use of the state symbols of Czechoslovakia by either successor state was inserted into the legislation concerning the dissolution of the federation. However, the Czech Republic kept the use of the flag.

|[[File:Banner of Přemyslid family.svg|x100px]]|Medieval Banner of the Duchy of Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty |[[File:Royal banner of the Kingdom of Bohemia (colorful).svg|x100px]]|Medieval Royal Banner of arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia |[[File:Flag of Bohemia.svg|border|x100px]]|Kingdom of Bohemia until 1918 |[[File:Flag of Bohemia.svg|border|x100px]]|First Czechoslovak Republic 1918–1920 |[[File:Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg|border|x100px]]|First and Second Czechoslovak Republic 1920–1939 Czechoslovakia 1945–1992|[[File:Flag of Bohmen und Mahren.svg|border|x100px]]|Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia 1939–1945 since 1993|19=}}

Czechoslovakia

|Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg|Flag of Czechoslovakia. (1920–1992) [[File:FIAV historical.svg|23px]] |Naval Ensign of Czechoslovakia 1935-1939 1945-1955.svg|Naval Ensign of Czechoslovakia. (1930–1955) [[File:FIAV historical.svg|23px]] [[File:FIAV 000001.svg|20px]] |Naval ensign of Czechoslovakia (1955–1960).svg|Naval Ensign of Czechoslovakia. (1955–1960) [[File:FIAV historical.svg|23px]] [[File:FIAV 000001.svg|20px]] |Czechoslovak People's Army Flag.svg|War flag of Czechoslovakia. (1960–1990) [[File:FIAV historical.svg|23px]] [[File:FIAV 001000.svg|20px]]

Design contest (1918–1920)

|Flag of Czechoslovak National Council.svg|Flag of the Czechoslovak National Council in Paris (1916–1918) |Flag of the Czech Republic alt.svg|Original proposed flag by Jaroslav Kursa (1919) |Czech and Slovak American flag.svg|Proposed flag by Czech and Slovak American Association in 1918 |Flag of Czechoslovakia (1920 proposal).svg|Czechoslovakia proposed flag in 1920

Dimensions

The blazon of this flag is per pall fesswise Argent, Azure, and Gules. The flag is formed from an isosceles triangle that extends halfway along the rectangle (a common mistake is to draw it shorter) and two bands: one white and one red. The most similar foreign flag is the flag of the Philippines but the latter has dimensions 1:2, the three colours permuted, and additional golden-yellow symbols added on it. File:Tricolour_of_the_Czech_Republic.svg|Czech Republic tricolour

Flag colours

Czech law does not prescribe specific shades for the colours used in the national flag. The 1993 legislation refers only to the colours white, red, and blue, without providing detailed specifications regarding their exact tones. However, the law includes an annex featuring an illustration of the flag that employs saturated and rich versions of each colour.

Presidential flag

Another Czech official symbol is the flag of the president of the Czech Republic. It was first introduced in 1918 for the president of Czechoslovakia. The current version, which was designed by heraldist Jiří Louda, was adopted upon the creation of an independent Czech Republic in 1993.

Literature

• Zbyšek Svoboda, Pavel Fojtík: brochure Naše vlajka. Vznik a vývoj české vlajky (Our Flag. Origin and evolution of the Czech flag), Libea, 2005, .
• Petr Exner, Pavel Fojtík, Zbyšek Svoboda: brochure Vlajky, prapory a jejich používání (Flags, banners and their use), Libea, 2004, .

References

References

1. "Czech society of vexicologists on the origin of the Czechoslovak state flag".
2. Government of the Czech Republic [http://www.vlada.cz/en/clenove-vlady/historie-minulych-vlad/historie-statni-vlajky/the-czech-republics-national-flag-19198/ The Czech Republic's national flag]. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
3. [https://www.psp.cz/sqw/sbirka.sqw?cz=67&r=1990 Law defining state symbols of the Czech Republic] 67/1990 Sb, from 13 March 1990
4. [http://www.zakonypreludi.sk/zz/1992-542 Ústavný zákon č. 542/1992 Zb. o zániku Českej a Slovenskej Federatívnej Republiky], Čl. 3 ods. 2
   (''Constitutional act. No. 542/1992 Col. on the dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, art. 3 sect. 2'')
5. Zeman, Jiří. (2011). "K některým otázkám používání české státní vlajky a vlajky Evropské unie". Časopis pro právní vědu a praxi.
6. [http://www.psp.cz/docs/laws/1993/3.html Law defining state symbols of the Czech Republic] 3/1993 Sb, from 17 December 1992
7. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/flag-of-the-Czech-Republic Whitney Smith, "Flag of the Czech Republic", ''Encyclopedia Britannica''.]
8. (2015-09-02). "Zomrel heraldik Jiří Louda, autor českého štátneho znaku a prezidentskej zástavy". Aktuality.sk.