Flag of Moldova

What the flag of Moldova looks like

The flag of Moldova has three vertical bands of equal width: blue at the hoist, yellow in the middle and red at the fly. The width-to-height ratio is 1:2.

The national coat of arms is placed in the center of the yellow band. It shows a golden eagle with outspread wings. In its beak the eagle carries a Christian cross, in its right talon an olive branch and in its left a scepter. On the eagle's chest is a shield showing the head of an aurochs (a wild ox) with a five-pointed star between its horns, a rose on one side and a crescent moon on the other.

The emblem is what separates the flag from its closest relative, the flag of Romania, which has the same colors but no arms.

Moldova flag meaning and symbolism

The three colors are those of the Romanian tricolor, and they reflect the shared history and language of Moldova and Romania. They are also linked to the French tricolor, which inspired many national flags in the 19th century. Common readings are that blue stands for the sky and freedom, yellow for the fields and grain, and red for the courage of the people, but Moldovan law does not give the colors an official meaning.

The aurochs head is the old symbol of the Principality of Moldavia, a medieval state founded in the 14th century. The star, rose and crescent are traditional elements of that heraldry. The eagle with the cross is shared with the arms of Wallachia and later of Romania, and it is read as a sign of Christian faith and of the country's links with Romanian culture.

History of the Moldovan flag

In the middle ages the Principality of Moldavia used banners with the aurochs head. After the territory between the Prut and Dniester rivers, known as Bessarabia, was taken by the Russian Empire in 1812, it flew Russian flags. It became part of Romania in 1918, and Romanian tricolors were used in the interwar years.

In 1940 the Soviet Union annexed the region and created the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. Its flag was red with a hammer and sickle and a green horizontal stripe. As the Soviet Union weakened, the republic's national movement brought back the blue, yellow and red colors, and the tricolor was proclaimed the state flag in 1990, before independence was declared on 27 August 1991. The version with the coat of arms is the one in use today.

Detailed rules on how the flag is made and used were fixed later by law. The flag is celebrated on Flag Day on 27 April.

Moldova flag vs the flags of Romania, Andorra and Chad

Romania, Andorra and Chad all use vertical bands of blue, yellow and red. Romania's flag is a plain tricolor with a 2:3 ratio. Andorra's flag has its own coat of arms and is a little different in shape. Chad's flag has a darker indigo blue. Moldova's flag can be told apart by the large eagle emblem. The simplest way to see the difference is to compare them in the flags of the world list.