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image by Željko Heimer, 23 October 2004
Official Name: Republic of Lithuania
(Lietuvos Respublika)
Capital: Vilnius
Location: Baltic Eastern Europe
Government Type: Parliamentary Democracy
Flag adopted: 1
September 2004 (Originally Adopted 20 March 1989)
Coat of arms adopted: 20 September 1991
ISO Code: LT
See also:
Historical Flags:
Ethnographic Regions:
Regional Flags:
Other sites:
On 1st September, 2004 a new law concerning the flag has come
into force. As a result of this, it has changed the measurements
of the flag - they used to be 1:2, and since 1st September they
are 3:5. Besides, the State flag has been legalized. The state
flag is red and has a national emblem of Lithuania in the centre
of it.
Timas Pelanis, 20 October 2004
According to <www.geraldika.ru>
, the new flag law of Lithuania (since 1 Sept. 2004) set the flag
ratio as 3:5 (instead of 1:2). No data about naval ensign and
jack.
Jan Zrzavy, 22 October 2004
1. The historical flag of Lithuania (it is the one I called
the state flag) has been legalized during the First Republic of
Lithuania (1918-1940). But the state flag was a three-colour flag
(yellow, green and red), as it is now. The historical flag, as
written in article 2 of Law on The Flag of The Republic of
Lithuania and Other Flags, is the historical symbol of the State
of Lithuania, the red cloth, in the centre of which there is
Vytis - a silver knight on the white horse, holding a silver
sword in his right hand over his head. By the left shoulder of
the knight there is a blue shield with a gold double cross. The
saddle, saddlecloth and belts are blue. The hilt of the sword,
the bridle bit, the stirrup and spur, the metal details of the
sheath and horse clothing are gold. Truly, the flag was
legalized, but it is not widely used. The law says the flag is
hoisted on historical holidays such as 16th February (Day of
Re-establishment of the State of Lithuania), 11th March (Day of
Re-establishment of Lithuania's Independence), 6th July
(Statehood Day), 15th July (Grunwald Battle Day), 25th October
(Constitution Day) and by historically significant buildings.
2. The law gives exact proportions for the flag. The article 3 of
the law says the proportions of the width and length
of the State flag and the historical flag shall be 3:5. Usually,
the flag flown on the buildings, is 1 m wide and 1.7 m long, as
well as the historical flag. The measurements of the State flag
and the historical flag can be different, but the ratio of their
width and length must always be 3:5. The Law on The Coat of Arms
does not give any exact proportions for the emblem.
Timas Pelanis, 28 October 2004
See also: Lithuania - Flag Legislation
image by Željko Heimer, 15 May 2002
The revived state flag of Lithuania is the same as pre-war state flag. According to
information received by the list the flag was re-introduced by a
Law dated 1 September 2004, and differs from the its earlier
version in that the reverse is now the same as the obverse
Christopher Southworth, 20 January 2004
Photo by Christian
Westerback at "Helsingin
Sanomat" (First published in print 8 April 2004; report
by Kaius Niemi), show Lithuanian state flag used as jack.
Jan Mertens, 28 July 2007
The first of the former SSRs to break decisively with Moscow,
Lithuania adopted its old tricolour as its official state flag in
March 1989. Like the other Baltic states, and indeed, the other
captive nations of the former USSR, the flag had been used during
Lithuania's previous period of independence from Russia - from
1918 to 1940. In the flag, yellow stands for grain, green for
forests, and red for the blood shed in defense of the nation.
Stuart Notholt
According to the Grossen Flaggenbuch, the first horizontal
triband adopted as Lithuanian national flag after WWI had the
proportions 3:2. The current national flag, with proportions 2:1,
is therefore not strictly a readoption of the pre-WWII flag.
Ivan Sache, 9 March 1998
From <neris.mii.lt/homepage/flag1.html>:
The state flag of the Republic of Lithuania is cloth consisting
of three horizontal stripes: yellow (the upper), green (the
middle) and red (the lower). The colours of the flag arise from
various aspects of nature and Lithuanian values. The ratio of the
width and length of the flag is 1 to 2. In olden times,
Lithuanians had many flags. During the Zalgiris battle, the flag
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was red, with white coat of arms,
the Vytis, embroidered on it. The Lithuanian public renewed
discussion as to what the Lithuanian national flag ought to be
only towards the end of the 19th century. Various combinations of
two or tree colours prevailing in traditional national dresses
(red, yellow, green, white) were used in national flags. The
present-day flag and its colours were chosen by a special
commission (Jonas Basanavicius, Tadas Daugirdas, Antanas
Zmuidzinavicius) set up by the provisional supreme body of state
power - the Lithuanian Council - of Lithuanian state under
restoration. On April 19, 1918 the Lithuanian Council approved
the design proposed by the commission. After Lithuania's
occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union, the flag was
placed under a ban and anyone flying it incurred severe
punishment. A great many of these flags appeared at various
rallies held by the Sajudis movement in the summer of 1988. Soon
the flag was legalized: first, recognized as the national and
later as the state flag on November 18, 1988, and on June 26,
1991 (the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania law "
On the state flag of the Republic of Lithuania").
Dov Gutterman 17 April 1999
Official Lithuanian tricolor is not based on Lithuanian
heraldic tradition, but still was legitimized in 1918. Many
Lithuanian intellectuals weren't satisfied with this
unexplainable flag with no heraldic tradition and new tricolor
project was offered in February, 1940. This flag was exactly the
same size as existing tricolor, so were lines of colors. Only
combination was different: white-yellow-red. This combination was
based on Lithuanian coat-of-arms colors, white - color of figure,
red - color of background, yellow - color of details. Such
forming of tricolors on coat-of-arms colors base is rather usual.
Legitimization of new tricolor was seriously considered, and
probably would have occured, but Soviet occupation in June, 1940
interrupted the proccess.
Giedrius Kiaulakis, 19 January 2001
From Album 2000 [pay00] -
National Flag (CSW/C-- 1:2) - Horizontal tricolour of
yellow-over-green-over-red. As is already correctly noted by
Ivan, modern flag is ratio 1:2, while the pre-WWII one was,
according to [neu92] in ratio 2:3.
Željko Heimer, 13 May 2002
Specification of the colors of flag of Lithuania in CMYK are:
Yellow - C0/M30/Y100/K0
Green - C100/M55/Y100/K0
Red - C25/M100/Y100/K0.
Given by Heraldic Comission of Lithuania.
Robertas Jucaitis, 17 January 2003
The dark shade of the green was already in use in 1918.
Perhaps is a coming to the roots or they are trying to
diferentiate from african countries (where light shades are in
use). In flag Report 14 we can read:
German Ocupation - The territory of Lithuania remained occupied
by German forces during most of the war. There existed a flag in
the Smaller Lithuania (Region of Memel) with the colors green,
white and red (casually the Hungarian colors reverted). These
colors were also those of a Konigsberg-based Lithuanian students
association since 1829 and other in Tilsit since 1885. The
Lithuanians of Russia also adopted this flag during World War I.
Togheter with this flag, Jonas Basanavicius proposed to readopt
the traditional flag, red with the white knight. In the
Conference of San Petersburgo of 1917 Adomas Varnas proposed a
variation in the knight who would be endowed with a torch, and
with blue background (perhaps derived from an ancient military
flag).
Lithuanian Tariba (Council) (Sept. 1917) - The Lithuanian
National Council was created in September under the control of
the Allies and with very little influence in the country. As the
Lithuanians were using various flags and no one had yet prevailed
as the national one, the Council adopted de facto a flag green
over red. On 11 December 1917 the Lithuanian National Council
proclaimed the independence of the country, but the German troops
were still there. In February 1918 Germany allowed the
proclamation of independence from Russia but kept the occupation
regime.
Lithuania State (February 1918) - A special commission ruled that
the colors of Lithuania would be yellow, green and red. It was
approved on 19 April 1918. Initially the shade of red and green
was very dark, later to turn to a medium shade.
Kingdom of Lituania (July 1918) - In May 1918, after the peace
with Russia (Brest-Litovsk) this country resigned its rights on
the region. Germany agreed to recognize the independence of
Lithuania provided that its government would be satisfactory for
the German interest. In July 1918 Germany proposed the creation
of an independent Lithuanian state, in the form of a Kingdom,
that would be in perpetual alliance with the German Empire. There
were negotiations with prince William of Urach (of the royal
dynasty of Wuttemberg) to be offererd the crown (July) but the
pressures of the annexionist groups made the attempt to fail. In
November, the German defeat supposed the end of the project. The
Lithuanian National Council, supported by the Entente, took the
power and established a Constitution in November 1918. on 11
November 1918 the national flag was hoisted. No flag different
from the one adopted by the National Council was designed for the
hypothetical Kingdom of Lithuania.
Jaume Olle', 28 Febuary 2003
From The Heraldry of Lithuania, Vol. 1, Vilnius 1998:
"The Lithuanian State (National) Flag
Description - The State flag of the Republic of
Lithuania is the national flag. It consists of a cloth which is
made up of three equal horizontal bands: yellow on top, green in
the middle, red on the bottom. The relationship of the width of
the flag to the length is 1:2.
Overview - Flags have been used as identifying signs since
ancient times. They were most popular in warfare during the
Middle Ages, when even army units were named after their banners.
The Lithuanian flag is mentioned for the first time in the
chronicles of Vygand of Marburg. He wrote that in 1337, during
the battle at Bajerburg castle (near Veliuona), Tilman Zumpach,
head of the riflemen of the Crusaders, used a flaming lance to
burn the Lithuanian flag, before mortally wounding the Duke of
Trakai. But the chronicler did not describe what this flag looked
like. Much more is known about Lithuania's later flags. In the
15th C., J. Dlugosz claimed that Vytautas brought 40 regiments,
all carrying red banners, to the Battle of Tannenberg. Thirty of
the banners were embroidered with an armoured knight holding a
raised sword and riding a white, black, bay, or dappled horse,
while ten bore the embroidered device with which Vytautas branded
his horses (the Columns of the Gediminas family). According to J.
Dlugosz, these banners were named after territories or dukes:
Vilnius, Kaunas, Trakai, Medininkai, Zygimantas Kaributas,
Semionas Lengvenis, etc. It is thought that the regiments bearing
the Columns of the Gediminas family were brought from the
territories of Vytautas' patrimonial estates (the Trakai Duchy),
and those bearing the knight from the other regions of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the concept of a ruler and
a State were one and the same. Thus it is doubtful that we would
ever find Information about the flag of the State of Lithuania
during the 15th C., because back then, the Grand Duke represented
the State. A distinction emerged only in the 16th C. From then on
one also finds the State flag being mentioned. The first to
describe it was Alexander Guagnini in 1578. The flag of the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania was made of red silk and had four points. Its
principal side, the one on the right from the flag staff, was
charged with a white mounted knight underneath the ducal crown,
and the other with the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
patron of Lithuania. Later only the knight is mentioned as being
embroidered on both sides of the flag. The red flag of the State
with its white knight survived until the end of the 18th C.
National flags composed of bands appeared later. The French
revolution of 1789, which replaced the royal white flag in use up
to that time with the tricolour: red-white-blue (the edge colours
later changed position), was the greatest impetus for their
transformation. Three equal bands meant the equality of all
before the law, as did the new slogan:
Freedom-Equality-Fraternity, which is used to this day on the
emblem of the French Republic. By the 19th C., most European
States had national tricoloured flags. Normally they were
composed of the colours of the State coat of arms. Thus the
German flag is made up of the colours of the black eagle with red
talons and beak on a field of gold: black-red-gold; the Belgian
flag, black-yellow-red - bears the colours of the golden lion
with red claws on a field of black. Other states like Denmark and
the Scandinavian countries assigned their old flags the status of
national flag. The crosses depicted on their flags were the
symbols of the patron saints of those countries.
In Lithuania, which belonged to the Russian Empire from the end
of the 18th C., a national movement developed under exceptionally
difficult conditions. Thus flags which aspired to the status of a
national flag, first appeared abroad. Perhaps the oldest and most
constant was the green-white-red flag of Lithuania Minor, known
from the 17th C. American Lithuanian associations began to use
double or tricoloured flags in the second half of the 19th C. It
is known that there were white-blue, white-red-blue,
red-yellow-blue flags, and there is mention in 1912 of a
red-green-yellow flag, in 1914 of a yellow-green-red one, as well
as other colour combinations. The variety of flags can be
explained by the fact that the groups of Lithuanians were divided
and scattered, with no strong unifying center which could
consolidate one version. There was merely the idea of a national
flag.
Discussions in Lithuania re the national flag began at the 1905
Lithuanian Congress in Vilnius. J. Basanavicius thought that the
flag of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania - the white knight on red -
was the most fitting. But the majority of Congress participants
did not agree, because for them the colour red evoked unwelcome
associations of revolution. Discussion vis-?-vis the national
flag was renewed again in 1917, with the opening up of prospects
for the restoration of sovereignty. At a meeting J. Basanavicius
and Lithuanian public activists decided that the flag's colours
might be found in ethnic weavings. A. Zmuidzinavicius took on the
task, and subsequently decorated the hall of the Vilnius City
Theatre, which hosted a Lithuanian Conference in September 1917,
with small green-red flags. The conference delegates did not like
the two-colour flag A. Zmuidzinavicius had created; they found it
far too gloomy. A special commission made up of J. Basanavicius,
A. Zmuidzinavicius and T. Daugirdas was formed to create a flag.
They decided to supplement the two colours with yellow. In the
beginning T. Daugirdas suggested inserting a narrow yellow band
between the red and green, claiming that such a combination would
symbolize the dawn very well. After long argument, on April 19,
1918, the commission finally decided that the Lithuanian national
flag had to be made up of three horizontal bands of equal width:
yellow-green-red. Yellow meant the sun, light, and goodness,
green symbolized the beauty of nature, freedom, and hope, and red
stood for the land, courage, and the blood which had been spilled
for the Homeland. Soon after the Council of Lithuania confirmed
the national flag, and also approved the historical one charged
with the mounted white knight on one side, and the Columns of the
Gediminas family on the other. However in 1922, the Lithuanian
Constitution acknowledged only the tricolour flag, and named it
the State flag. The ancient historical one was not officially
legalized, but was later used by the President of the Republic.
It must be said that before the war there was a great deal of
discussion about the colours of the national flag. On May 8,
1940, the State Heraldry Commission had even decided to present
the President with a new project for the flag. The
yellow-green-red was to be replaced by yellow-red-white. In
addition one side was to be charged with an image of the mounted
knight, and the other with the Columns of the Gedminas family.
The colours were taken from the coat of arms created in 1934. But
further decisions were suspended by political changes.
On September 27, 1940 after the Soviets occupied Lithuania, the
Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR replaced
the tricolour with a red flag. The canton was charged with the
golden inscription "Lithuanian SSR" above a golden
hammer and sickle. In 1950 Moscow ordered every republic to
manufacture tricoloured flags, whose upper half was to be red,
and whose lower half could be of their own choosing. On July 15,
1953 the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR
confirmed a new red-white-green flag. Its upper red band took up
two-thirds (or eight-twelfths) of the cloth, the middle white
band one-twelfth, and the bottom green three-twelfths. This flag
was used until 1988. By the summer of 1988 the old tricolour had
begun to fly during events held by Lithuania's Sajudis and other
public organizations. It was officially hoisted on Gediminas
Castle Tower in Vilnius for the first time after the war, at
10:00 on October 7, 1988. On November 18 at the tenth session of
its eleventh convention, the Supreme Council of the Lithuanian
SSR was forced to change a chapter of the Constitution, and to
grant the yellow-red-green flag the status of State flag. The
colours of the flag (yellow approximating orange, a rich green,
and red approximating purple) were recreated according to flags
of the Independent Republic of Lithuania which had been preserved
by museums and private individuals. It was confirmed by the
Presidium of the Supreme Council on January 25 1989."
Audrius Slapsinskas, 24 June 2003
The only thing I have on the colours of the Lithuanian flag
that is official is a protocol issued by the Lithuanian Standards
Board on 26 March 1996 which gave them according to Swedish
Standard SS 01 91 02 (Colour Atlas) Edition 2, 1989 as Yellow
01080-Y10R, Green 5050-G and Red 1090-R.
Christopher Southworth, 27 September
(1:2)
image by Željko Heimer, 13 May 2002
image by Željko Heimer, 13 May 2002
The following was written by Reuters at <news.excite.com>:
Prime Minister Faces Fine for Failing to Fly Flag (Updated 11:24
AM ET February 26, 2001).
VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuanian Premier Rolandas Paksas could be
fined for failing to fly the country's flag at his home on
Saturday to mark nearby Estonia's independence day, the daily
Respublika said. The paper said Paksas faced a fine of up to $50.
His office declined to comment. Homeowners in all three Baltic
states are obliged to fly their national flags on the Latvian,
Lithuanian and Estonian independence days.
Michael P. Smuda, 26 Febuary 2001
At St Michael the Archangel (built as an Orthodox church end
19C and eventually a Catholic one) in Kaunas, I saw:
Left of the altar (to the altar's own right): a Vatican
bicolour, yellow above white i.e. horizontal stripes. Right
of the altar (to the altar's own left): the national flag.
This was the only church were I saw this kind of arrangement, at
least of the many a tourist is supposed to see. However,
after restauration Vilnius cathedral may well (re?)introduce
something similar.
Jan Mertens, 15 August 2003
A while back, I noticed a picture of a group of Lithuanian
people gathering for what, I don't remember. What I do remember
is the flag that was present. It was the Lithuanian tri- color,
but, in the upper left corner there was a black double cross. Do
you know of this flag and its meaning?
Tim Plonis, 1 September 1999
