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Flag of Georgia (country)

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For other uses, seeFlag of Georgia.
Georgia
Five Cross Flag
UseNational flag,civilandstate ensignSmall vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagSmall vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagReverse side is congruent with obverse sideFlag can be hung vertically by hoisting on a normal pole, then turning the pole 90°
Proportion2:3
Adopted12th century (five cross flag)
14 January 2004;20 years ago(2004-01-14)(current design)
DesignA white field with a centred red cross; a redBolnur-Katskhuricrosscentres each quarter.[1]
UsePresidential Standard
Proportion1:1
Proportion1:1
DesignFlag of theMinister of Defence
Proportion1:1
DesignFlag of the Chief of the General Staff
Proportion2:3
DesignWar flagof Georgia
UseNaval ensignSmall vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagSmall vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagReverse side is congruent with obverse side
Proportion2:3
DesignA blue field with a white saltire bordered by green.

Theflag of Georgia(Georgian:საქართველოს სახელმწიფო დროშა,romanized:sakartvelos sakhelmts'ipo drosha), also known as thefive-cross flag(Georgian:ხუთჯვრიანი დროშა,romanized:khutjvriani drosha), is one of thenational symbolsofGeorgia.Originally abannerof the medievalKingdom of Georgia,it was repopularised in the late 20th and early 21st centuries during the Georgian national revival.

History[edit]

The current flag was used by the Georgian patriotic movement following the country's independence from theSoviet Unionin 1991. By the late 1990s, the design had become widely known as the Georgian historical national flag, asvexillologistshad pointed out the red-on-whiteJerusalem crossshown as the flag ofTbilisiin a 14th-century map byDomenico and Francesco Pizzigano.[2]By late 2021, a newly-discoveredcoinof the KingDavid the Builderwith five-cross composition engravingnow datesthe Georgian flag to the 12th century.[3]According to theState Council of Heraldry,the coin is of greatest importance and is an unmistakable proof for the history of the Georgian national flag being used during the reign of King David IV.[4]

A majority of Georgians, including the influentialCatholicos-Patriarchof theGeorgian Orthodox Church,supported the restoration of the flag and in 1999 theParliament of Georgiapassed a bill to change the flag. However, it was not endorsed by the then-PresidentEduard Shevardnadze.It was adopted in the early 2000s by the main opposition party, theUnited National Movementled byMikheil Saakashvili,as a symbol of popular resistance to Shevardnadze's rule as well as a symbol of theRose Revolution.[5]

The flag was adopted by Parliament on 14 January 2004.[6]Saakashvili formally endorsed it via Presidential Decree No. 31 signed on 25 January,[7]following his election as president. 14 January is annually marked as aFlag Dayin Georgia.[6]

Design[edit]

The national flag of Georgia, as described in the decree:[8]

The Georgian national flag is a white rectangle, with a large red cross in its central portion touching all four sides of the flag. In the four corners there are fourbolnur-katskhuricrosses (also referred to as a Georgian Cross or aGrapevine cross) of the same color as the large cross.

Scheme Red White
RGB 255-0-0 255-255-255
CMYK 0-100-100-0 0-0-0-0
Pantone 485 C Safe
Web #FF0000 #FFFFFF
Flag construction sheet

Previous flags[edit]

See also:List of flags of Georgia (country)
The five crosses on the current Georgian flag are sometimes interpreted as representing either theFive Holy Wounds,or alternativelyChristand theFour Evangelists.[9]

Early Georgian states[edit]

The first Georgian flag design came about during the era of the early Georgian state, thePrincipality of Iberiawhich had a red cross against a white background, similar to theflag of England. The subsequentPrincipality of Tao-Klarjetishared this same flag.

Medieval Georgian flags[edit]

Detail of the 1367 Pizzigano chart, showing Tbilisi and its flag

The white flag with the single redSt. George's crosswas supposedly used byKing Vakhtang Iin the 5th century.[dubious–discuss][10]According to tradition,King Tamar(d. 1213) used a flag with a dark red cross and a star in a white field.[11]In the 1367 map byDomenico and Francesco Pizzigano,the flag ofTifilis(Tbilisi) is shown as aJerusalem cross(a large cross with smaller crosses in each quarter). According to D. Kldiashvili (1997), the Jerusalem cross might have been adopted during the reign ofKing George V.[12]

After the collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia[edit]

Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–1921)[edit]

During Georgia's brief existence as an independent state as theDemocratic Republic of Georgiafrom 1918 to 1921, a flag consisting of a dark red field with black and white bands in the canton was adopted. The design resulted from a national flag-designing contest won by the painterIakob Nikoladze.It was abolished by theSoviet Unionfollowing the 1921 incorporation of Georgia into the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, Georgia adopted a modified version with the length extended (see below).

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1991)[edit]

Main article:Flag of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

During the Soviet period, Georgia adopted several variants of thered Soviet flagincorporating first theGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic'sname, and later a redhammer and sicklewith astarin a blue sun in thecantonand a blue bar in the upper part of flag. The flag of theGeorgian SSRwas replaced by the flag of the Democratic Republic of Georgia by the Georgian government in November 1990, shortly before itdeclared independencefrom the Soviet Union.

Georgia (1991–2004)[edit]

The previous flag used by the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921 was reestablished as the flag of the Republic of Georgia on 8 December 1991, by theSupreme Council of the Republic of Georgia.However, it lost popularity thereafter as it became associated with the chaotic and violent period after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thewine-redcolour symbolises the good times of the past as well as the future, whilst the black represents Russian rule, and the white represents hope for peace.[13]This flag was later replaced by the current Georgian flag following the bloodlessRose Revolution.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Decree of the President of Georgia No. 32 of 25 January 2004.
  2. ^"The new flag of Georgia does not seem to be related with this historical banner. The flag of the National Movement was unknown ten years ago [1993] and was called 'the Georgian historical national flag' by the opposition leaders only after publications by the Georgian vexillologist I.L. Bichikashvili." Mikhail Revnivtsev, 25 November 2003crwflags.comArchived2018-12-15 at theWayback Machine
  3. ^Georgian Journal27 Dec, 2021Newly-Discovered Coin Dates Georgian Five-Cross Flag Back to XII CenturyArchived2024-04-01 at theWayback Machine
  4. ^State Council of Heraldry24 Dec, 2021About the new discovered coinArchived2022-01-11 at theWayback Machine
  5. ^"A majority of Georgians, including the patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, have long favored adopting the five-cross banner as the nation's official flag. But the outgoing president stymied all efforts to make the change. In 1999, the Georgian Parliament voted to change the flag, and all Shevardnadze had to do was issue a supportive Decree. Inexplicably, he refused to do so, instead setting up a powerless Heraldic Commission to study the matter. When Saakashvili founded the National Movement in 2001, therefore, the five-cross flag was the natural choice to illustrate his party's populist bent." Brendan Koerner, "What's With Georgia's Flags?Archived2018-02-09 at theWayback Machine",Slate,25 November 2003.
  6. ^ab"Georgia celebrates National Flag Day today".Agenda.ge. 14 Jan 2017. Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.Retrieved24 January2017.
  7. ^Presidential Decree 31Archived2017-02-02 at theWayback Machine(in Georgian)
  8. ^https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brdzanebuleba_31.pdfArchived2023-06-16 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
  9. ^Michael Spilling, Winnie Wong: Georgia p. 37.
  10. ^Theodore E. Dowling, Sketches of Georgian Church History, New York, p 54. D.M.Lang – Georgia in the Reign of Giorgi the Brilliant (1314–1346). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1955), p. 84. G. Macharashwiliდროშა გორგასლიანი,თბ. 2011.
  11. ^"Georgia.".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved2013-02-14..
  12. ^David Kldiashvili, ქართული ჰერალდიკის ისტორია ( "History of Georgian heraldry" ), Parlamentis utskebani, 1997; pp. 30–35.
  13. ^Steve Luck, ed. (1997).Oxford Family Encyclopedia (first ed.). London: George Philip.Oxford University Press. p.281.ISBN0-19-521367-X.

External links[edit]

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