Flag of Croatia

What the flag of Croatia looks like

The Croatian flag has three horizontal stripes of equal height: red at the top, white in the middle and blue at the bottom. The proportions are 1:2. In the center is the coat of arms, which covers parts of the red and blue stripes as well as the white stripe between them.

The shield is a checkerboard of 25 red and white squares, with a red square in the top left corner. This pattern is called šahovnica and is also familiar from the Croatian national football team's shirts. Above the shield sits a crown with five small shields, each a historical coat of arms of a Croatian region. From left to right they are the historical arms of Central Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. Dalmatia is shown by three crowned leopard heads, Istria by a golden goat on a blue field, and Slavonia by a marten running between two rivers under a star.

The icon version is on the Croatia flag emoji page, and large files are on the download page.

Croatia flag meaning and symbolism

Red, white and blue are the Pan-Slavic colors, which are widely associated with romantic nationalism. The flag combines the colors of the flags of the Kingdom of Croatia (red and white), the Kingdom of Slavonia (blue and white) and partially of the Kingdom of Dalmatia (blue and yellow). The same colors appear in the flags of Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Russia, as well as the Netherlands, although the arrangement is different in each. In Croatia the red-white-blue tricolor has been used as the national flag since the 19th century.

The colors do not have an official meaning in law. The coat of arms carries the more specific message. Its red-and-white checkerboard is a long-standing Croatian symbol, and the five small shields on the crown are the historical arms of Central Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia.

History of the Croatian flag

The red-white-blue tricolor has been used as the Croatian flag since 1848, the year of the installation flag of Ban (Governor) Josip Jelačić, and the flag has been in continuous use since 1868. The checkerboard shield was added in 1939.

After the First World War, Croatia became part of Yugoslavia. In the Second World War, the Independent State of Croatia (1941-45) used a modified version of the flag, with no crown and a different arrangement of the checkerboard, which still makes that arrangement a sensitive subject. After 1945, Croatia was one of the republics of socialist Yugoslavia, and its flag was the tricolor with a five-pointed red star with a yellow border in place of the coat of arms.

After the first multiparty elections, the star was replaced by the coat of arms in May 1990, and the present flag and coat of arms were officially adopted on 21 December 1990, the day before the Constitution of Croatia was adopted. Croatia declared independence in 1991, and the flag has been used since then. The current coat of arms was designed by the artist Miroslav Šutej.

Croatia flag vs Serbia and other tricolors

People often ask what the difference is between the Serbian and Croatian flags. Both are horizontal tricolors with a coat of arms, but they differ in the order and the emblem. Croatia is red, white and blue from top to bottom, while Serbia is red, blue and white. Croatia's emblem is the checkerboard shield with the crown, and Serbia's is a double-headed eagle shown off-center toward the hoist. The Croatian flag is also a close relative of the Dutch flag, which has the same order of colors without any emblem and in different shades.