Flag of Romania
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The national flag of Romania is a tricolour of three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and red. The colours represented here date far back into Romanian history, but the current incarnation was officially adopted on December 27 1989.
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History of the flag
6th century: Dacia Justinianus
One of the very first occurances of the three official colors of today dates back to the Novella XI, issued on April 14, 535 by Emperor Justinian I. Among other things, it describes what was called "Justinian Dacia" (Banat and part of Oltenia) at the time, and contains a coat of arms for it.
- "Ex parte dextra, in prima divisione, scutum rubrum, in cuius medis videtur turris, significans utramque Daciam, in secunda divisione, scutum coelesti, cum (signum)tribus Burris, quarum duae e lateribus albae sunt, media vero aurea."
- Translation: (by Dr. Marius Bizerea) "From the right, in the first section, a red shield with towers meaning the other Dacia, in the second section a blue-sky shield with the ensigns of the Bur tribe, with white on the sides, and golden in the middle."
9th-10th centuries
Reoccurances of the three official colors took place again during the IX-X centuries, after the Romanian people is considered to have formed. The colors made various appearances in the flags of the various Romanian kingdoms and noble houses, as chosen by rulers or nobility.
1821: the Anti-phanariotes revolution
In 1821, the colors where used on the flag used by Tudor Vladimirescu during the anti-phanariotes revolution. While the main color of the flag was white, the hoist had three sets of tassels, combining the red, blue and yellow colors two by two.
1834: the first flag
The first official acknowledgement of the three colors together on the flag took place in 1834, during the ruling of Dimitrie Ghica, when the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire approved the adoption of a flag with the three colors placed horizontally (with blue at the bottom) and the Crusade Aquila on yellow, for the use of all the Romanian commercial and military units and ships.
This was the first official union of the three colors, and while it didn't hold a nationalistic meaning at the time, it was later taken as a symbol for the following nationalistics movements.
1848: the revolution
During the Revolutions of 1848, the newly formed Romanian Government stated in its Decree no. 1, from June 14, 1848, and later detailed in Decree no. 252, July 13, 1848, that the official flag was to be composed of the colors "dark blue, light yellow and crimson red". The flag had vertical colors with blue at the hoist, and beared the inscription "Justice, Fraternity".
Horizontal colors had been used that same year at the National Assemblys at Blaj, on the Field of Liberty, on April 26. The Romanians there used white instead of yellow -- supposedly in solidarity with the other European revolutionaries, like French and Hungarians, who also used white for their flags -- and the inscription "Virtus Romana Rediviva" (Romanian virtue reborn). Eventually, however, all Romanian flags reverted to the yellow color.
1859: the Great Unification
The national flag is once again ratified in 1859, when Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as ruler in both Moldova and Ţara Românească in a surprise consensum of the Romanians in both.
This flag, used from 1859 to 1862, had once again the colors placed horizontally, with blue at the bottom.
1867: Kingdom of Romania
The placement was changed back to vertical in 1867, with the arrival of Carol I as the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania (1881-1947). It remained in this form ever since, with the blue color at the hoist.
1948: the Communist state
In 1948, the communist regime (1947-1989) replaced the former coat of arms (composed of traditional Romanian heraldic elements) with a new one, of Sovietic influence.
1989: the revolution
This coat of arms was eliminated during the days of the 1989 revolution, when protesters on the streets of Timişoara and Bucharest waved flags with a round hole cut in the middle. Later, the Government decided not to adopt another coat of arms.
Similar flags
The flag is very similar to the national flag of Moldova, a close neighbour that shares much of its culture and history with Romania.
It is almost identical to the otherwise unrelated national flag of Chad.
It is also similar to the unrelated flag of Andorra.
There have been occasional media hypes regarding the similarity between the post-1989 Romanian flag and the flag of Chad, since neither of them uses a coat of arms and are extremely similar. The most recent such hype dates from April 2004 and was created over a rumored Chad contestation of the Romanian flag. The Romanian Ministry of Forreign Affairs settled it by clearly stating that the Romanian flag had been registered with WIPO since 1997 and that no contestation had occured in the legal 12-month period following the registration.
It is hard to believe, anyway, that Chad would go to such lengths, since the Flag of Chad has been adopted for the first time in 1960, whereas there are documented historical appearances of the Romanian flag in its current form dating as far back as the 6th century AC.
Some experts claim that the Romanian flag and the Flag of Chad differ slightly in the shade of the blue colour, with the Romanian color being somewhat darker.
Flag Day
Flag Day (Ziua Tricolorului) on June 26 is an annual official holiday in Romania.
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