The civil flag of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

consists of a bicolor of a red top and a bottom white stripe, in the proportion 3:5. The state flag is similar, except it is emblazoned with the state coat of arms in the centre, and may only be used by government departments and services. The colours red and white are based on that of the

Ludovingian The Ludovingians or Ludowingians (german: Ludowinger) were the ruling dynasty of Thuringia and Hesse during the 11th to 13th centuries. Their progenitor was Louis the Bearded who was descended from a noble family whose genealogy cannot be pre ...

coat of arms, showing a lion with a ninefold horizontal white and red division. The coat of arms was inherited by the

House of Hesse The House of Hesse is a European dynasty, directly descended from the House of Brabant. They ruled the region of Hesse, one branch as prince-electors until 1866, and another branch as grand dukes until 1918. Burke's Royal Families of the World, ...

upon its split from the

Duchy of Thuringia The Duchy of Thuringia was an eastern frontier march of the Merovingian dynasty, Merovingian kingdom of Austrasia, established about 631 by King Dagobert I after his troops had been defeated by the forces of the Samo, Slavic confederation of Samo ...

in 1247, and the flag came into use in the early modern

Landgraviate of Hesse The Landgraviate of Hesse (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen) was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed as a single entity from 1264 to 1567, when it was divided among the sons of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. History In the early Mid ...

; the modern

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

used a flag with two red stripes, as did the

People's State of Hesse The People's State of Hesse (german: Volksstaat Hessen) was one of the constituent states of Weimar Republic, Germany from 1918 to 1945, as the successor to the Grand Duchy of Hesse (german: Großherzogtum Hessen) after the defeat of the German ...

until 1933. The

flag of Thuringia Both the civil and state flag of the German state of Thuringia feature a bicolour of white over red. Introduced with the formation of the state of Thuringia within the Weimar Republic in 1920, it is the reverse of the flag of Hesse, both flags ul ...

was introduced in 1920, with its formation out of the fragmented

Thuringian states The Thuringian states (german: Thüringische Staaten) refers to the following German federal states within the German Reich: *The Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, officially the Grand Duchy of Saxony (''Großherzogtum Sachsen'') from 1903 *Th ...

(the Duchy of Thuringia had been absorbed into Saxony in 1400), as the reverse of the flag of Hesse. The civil flag of Hesse resembles that of Monaco's and, particularly, Indonesia's. It also resembles one of the flags of Alsace. The Hessian Ministry of the Interior designated several official flag days. On these days, the flag of Hesse (alongside with the Flag of the European Union and Germany) must be flown on all official buildings. These days include: On the Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism and on People's Mourning Day, flags are flown at

half-mast Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a salu ...

. Additionally, flags must be flown on days to the election to the European Parliament, the Bundestag, the Hessian Landtag and municipal elections.

History

File:Flag of the Free City of Frankfurt.svg,

Free City of Frankfurt For almost five centuries, the German city of Frankfurt was a city-state within two major Germanic entities: *The Holy Roman Empire as the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt () (until 1806) *The German Confederation as the Free City of Frankfurt ...

File:Flag of Isenburg County.svg,

Principality of Isenburg The County of Isenburg was a region of Germany located in southern present-day Hesse, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. The states of Isenburg emerged from the Niederlahngau (located in the Rhineland-Palatinate), which partitio ...

(1806–1815) File:Flag of the Kingdom of Westphalia.svg,

Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a kingdom in Germany, with a population of 2.6 million, that existed from 1807 to 1813. It included territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the ...

(1807–1813) File:Banner of the Electorate of Mainz.svg,

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself. Histor ...

(1810–1813) File:Flag of Hesse.svg,

Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (german: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its prin ...

File:Flag of Nassau-Usingen.svg,

Nassau-Usingen Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688. The origin of the county lies in the medieval county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602. Tha ...

File:Flagge Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866).svg,

Duchy of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

(1806–1866) File:Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen.svg,

(1806–1918) File:Flag of the Free State of Bottleneck.svg,

Free State Bottleneck The Free State of Bottleneck (german: Freistaat Flaschenhals) was a short-lived quasi-state that existed from 10 January 1919 until 25 February 1923. It was formed out of part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau as a consequence of the occupa ...

(1919–1923) File:Flagge Preußen - Provinz Hessen-Nassau.svg,

Province of Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the p ...

(1868–1944) File:Hessen KS flag.svg,

Province of Kurhessen The Province of Kurhessen () or Electoral Hesse was a province of Prussia within Nazi Germany between 1944 and 1945. Although all German states, including Prussia, had ''de facto'' been dissolved since 1933, the Nazi government formally parti ...

(1944–1945) File:Flagge Preußen - Provinz Nassau.svg,

Province of Nassau The Province of Nassau () was a provinces of Prussia, province of Free State of Prussia, Prussia from 1944 to 1945. Although all Weimar Republic#Constituent states of Germany during the Weimar period, German states (including Prussia) had been ...

(1944–1945)

References

Flags of states of Germany

Flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

Red and white flags {{europe-flag-stub de:Landeswappen Hessen