Flag of Russia
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| Name | Триколор Trikolor Tricolor Бесик Besik |
|---|---|
| Use | Civil and state flag, civil and state ensign |
| Proportion | 2:3 |
| Adopted | 11 December 1993 (originally de jure from 11 May (29 April O.S.) 1696,[1] de facto since around 1700 for vessels and 1883 for land use) |
| Design | A horizontal tricolour of white, blue and red |
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| Variant flag of Russia | |
| Name | Андреевский флаг Andreyevsky flag St. Andrew Flag |
| Use | Naval ensign |
| Adopted | 1992[2] (originally adopted in 1720[3]) |
| Design | White with a blue saltire. |
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The flag of Russia is a tricolor flag consisting of three equal horizontal fields: white on the top, blue in the middle and red on the bottom. The flag was first used as an ensign for Russian merchant ships and became official as the flag of the Tsardom of Russia in 1696. It remained in use until the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1917. It was re-introduced as the flag of the Russian Federation in 1991.
Contents
Origin
Two accounts of the flag's origin connect it to the tricolour used by the Dutch Republic (the flag of the Netherlands); however, the truth of neither having been established, both accounts remain speculative only.
The earliest mention of the flag occurs during the reign of Alexis I, in 1668, and is related to the construction of the first Russian naval ship, the frigate Oryol. According to one source, the ship's Dutch lead engineer Butler faced the need for the flag, and issued a request to the Boyar Duma, to "...ask His Royal Majesty as to which (as is the custom among other nations) flag shall be raised on the ship." The official response merely indicated that, as such issue is as yet unprecedented, even though the land forces do use (apparently different) flags, the czar ordered that his (Butler's) opinion be sought about the matter, asking specifically as to the custom existing in his country.[5]
A different account traces the origins of the Russian flag to czar Peter the Great's visits to Arkhangelsk in 1693 and 1694. Peter was keenly interested in shipbuilding in the European style, different from the barges ordinarily used in Russia at the time. In 1693, Peter had ordered a Dutch-built frigate from Amsterdam. In 1694 when it arrived, the Dutch red-white-and-blue banner flew from its stern.[6] Peter decided to model Russia's naval flag after this banner by changing the sequence of colors.
The Dutch flag book of 1695 by Carel Allard, printed only a year after Peter's trip to Western Europe, describes the tricolour with a double-headed eagle bearing a shield on its breast, and wearing a golden crown over both of its heads.
History
The 1695 flag book by Carel Allard describes three flags used by the czar of Muscovy: The tricolour with the double-headed eagle bearing a shield on its breast and wearing a golden crown over both of its heads, the tricolour with a blue saltire over it, and a third showing red and white quartering with a blue cross over all.[7]
The Russian tricolour flag was adopted as a merchant flag at rivers in 1705.
The colours of the flag of Russia inspired the choice of the "Pan-Slavic colours" by the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848. Two other Slavic countries, Slovakia and Slovenia, have flags similar to the Russian one, but with added coats-of-arms for differentiation.
On 7 May 1883, the Russian flag was authorized to be used on land, and it became an official National flag before the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896.
The flag continued to be used by the Russian Provisional Government after the Tsar was toppled in the February Revolution and was not replaced until the October Revolution which established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. From that time period, a 1:2 red flag featuring the abbreviated name "RSFSR" ("РСФСР") was used, until replaced in 1954 with the universal design of the Soviet flag with a blue stripe along the mast. It was not until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the tricolor was brought back as the official flag of the new Russian Federation. The modern era flag underwent a proportion change in 1993 and has been official since 2000.
Variant versions
A variant of the flag was authorized for private use by Tsar Nicholas II before World War I, adding the large State eagle on a yellow field (Imperial Standard) in a canton in the top left-hand corner. This variant was never made the official state flag.
When the Bolsheviks took power in 1917, the tricolor design was discarded, and a definitive new flag of the SFSR (one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union) was introduced in 1954 (see flag of Russian SFSR), and this remained the republic's flag until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. All of the Soviet Republics' flags were created by introducing a small, but noticeable change, to the flag of the Soviet Union. In this case, the change was an introduction of the left-hand blue band. The previous Soviet design was different, a plain red flag with different variants of the "RSFSR" abbreviation in the canton.
The tricolor was used by the anti-Communist forces during the Civil War called the White movement. It was continued to be used by White emigres in various countries as the Russian flag, as they did not see the Bolshevik government in Moscow as legitimate. The tricolor was associated both in Soviet Russia as well as the Russian White emigre communities as symbolizing a traditional tsarist Orthodox Russia. This flag as well as the Naval Ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy was used by anti-Communist Russian troops under German command during the Second World War. Both flags can be seen inside a few Orthodox churches in the West established by these Russian communities. In the Soviet Union, this flag was used in films set in the pre-Revolutionary period and was seen as an historical flag, especially after the 1940s.
This flag (rather than the black-yellow-white color combination) was re-adopted by Russia on 22 August 1991. The re-adoption date is celebrated yearly as the national flag day.[citation needed]
The president of Russia uses a Presidential Standard (Russian: Штандарт Президента), which is officially defined as the tricolor with the Coat of Arms (at this case the two-headed eagle is depicted without the shield) in the middle.
National Flag Day
The National Flag Day is an official holiday in Russia, established in 1994. It is celebrated on 22 August, the day of the victory over putschists in 1991, but it is not a day-off.
St. Andrew's flag (Russian: Андреевский флаг, Andreyevskiy flag) has a white background with two blue diagonal bands, forming a saltire cross associated with St. Andrew. The ratio of the flag's width to its length is 2:3, the width of the blue band is 1⁄10 the length of the flag.
Gallery
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The tricolor at Russian Consulate-General in Edinburgh
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The tricolor and the Banner of Victory on the 2009 Moscow Victory Day Parade
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Football fans with a gigantic Go Russia! banner, featuring the Russian Bear on the background of the tricolor
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Yelena Isinbayeva, a pole vault record holder, celebrating her 2007 World Championships win
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Beriev Be-200 dropping water painted into the national colors at the 2009 MAKS Airshow
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The flag in the sky over the Moscow Kremlin on the 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade
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Flag over coffin of Anton Denikin in New York City, this was used as the Russian flag by White émigrés abroad during the Soviet period.
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Russian naval flag of the 74-gun ship Vladislav captured at the battle of Hogland in 1788
See also
- Coat of arms of Russia
- Flags of the federal subjects of Russia
- Russian Navy Ensign
- Flag of the Russian SFSR
- Flag of the Soviet Union
- Coat of arms of Moscow
- List of Russian flags
- Pan-Slavic colors
References
- ↑ Высочайшее повеление о признании во всех случаях бело-сине-красного флага национальным
- ↑ УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ от 21 июля 1992 г. № 798 «О военно-морских флагах и вымпелах Российской Федерации»
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Whitney Smith, Flags Through the Ages and Across the World, 1975. "The black-orange-white flag was very unpopular, so much so that the government felt compelled on 7 May 1883 to recognize the white-blue-red as official for use on land during celebrations. Hence the flag intended for unrestricted use was rarely seen in prerevolutionary Russia, while the flag restricted to special occasions was in fact the most likely to be hoisted whenever private citizens wished to express their nationality by displaying a flag on land."[1]
- ↑ Flag T.H. Eriksen & R. Jenkins, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America. Abingdon, 2007, p. 23
- ↑ Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great, 160 (Modern Library Edition 2012)
- ↑ Russian flags at Flags of the World
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flags of Russia. |
- Russia at Flags of the World
- Official image of the Russian flag, on the official site of the Russian President.
- Text of the constitutional law about the flag. (initial variant, without amendments)
- Text of the constitutional law about the flag. (with amendments of 2002—2010)
- Lists Russian National Flag.
- Historical Russian National Flag - Vexillographia.(Russian)
- Lists Russian Vintage National Flag.(Russian)
- National Flag and Naval Ensign in Russia Navy.(Russian)
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