The flag of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

( ka, საქართველოს სახელმწიფო დროშა, tr), also known as the five-cross flag ( ka, ხუთჯვრიანი დროშა, tr), is one of the

national symbol A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an e ...

s of

. Originally a

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...

, it was repopularised in the late 20th and early 21st centuries during the Georgian national revival.

History

The current flag was used by the Georgian patriotic movement following the country's independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1991. By the late 1990s, the design had become widely known as the Georgian historical national flag, as

vexillologists Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synthe ...

had pointed out the red-on-white

Jerusalem cross The Jerusalem cross (also known as "five-fold Cross", or "cross-and-crosslets") is a heraldic cross and Christian cross variant consisting of a large cross potent surrounded by four smaller Greek crosses, one in each quadrant. It was used as t ...

shown as the flag of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

in a 14th-century map by

Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, known as the Pizzigani brothers, were 14th-century Venetian cartographers. Their surname is sometimes given as Pizigano (only one 'z') in older sources. 1367 Chart ] The Pizzigani brothers are principally know ...

. By late 2021, a newly-discovered

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

of the King David the Builder with five-cross composition engraving now dates the Georgian flag to the 12th century. According to the

State Council of Heraldry The State Council of Heraldry at the Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტთან არსებული ჰერალდიკის სახელმწიფო საბჭო,''saka ...

, the coin is of greatest importance and is an unmistakable proof for the history of the Georgian national flag being used during the reign of King David IV. A majority of Georgians, including the influential Catholicos-Patriarch of the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

, supported the restoration of the flag and in 1999 the

Parliament of Georgia The Parliament of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს პარლამენტი, tr) is the supreme national legislature of Georgia. It is a unicameral parliament, currently consisting of 150 members; of these, 120 are proporti ...

passed a bill to change the flag. However, it was not endorsed by the then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...

. It was adopted in the early 2000s by the main opposition party, the United National Movement led by

Mikheil Saakashvili Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist.

, as a symbol of popular resistance to Shevardnadze's rule as well as a symbol of the

Rose Revolution The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...

. The flag was adopted by Parliament on 14 January 2004. Saakashvili formally endorsed it via Presidential Decree No. 31 signed on 25 January, following his election as president. 14 January is annually marked as a Flag Day in Georgia.

Design

The national flag of Georgia, as described in the decree:

The Georgian national flag is a white rectangle, with a large red cross in its central portion touching all four sides of the flag. In the four corners there are four '' bolnur-katskhuri'' crosses (also referred to as a Georgian Cross or a
Grapevine cross The grapevine cross ( Georgian: ჯვარი ვაზისა, ''Jvari Vazisa''), also known as the Georgian cross or Saint Nino's cross, is a major symbol of the Georgian Orthodox Church and apocryphally dates from the 4th century AD, whe ...
) of the same color as the large cross.

Previous flags

Early Georgian states

The first Georgian flag design came about during the era of the early Georgian state, the

Principality of Iberia Principality of Iberia ( ka, ქართლის საერისმთავრო, tr) was an early medieval aristocratic regime in a core Georgian region of Kartli, i.e. Iberia per classical authors. It flourished in the period of inter ...

which had a red cross against a white background, similar to the

flag of England The flag of England is the national flag of England, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is derived from Saint George's Cross (heraldic blazon: ''Argent, a cross gules''). The association of the red cross as an emblem of England ...

. The subsequent

Principality of Tao-Klarjeti The Kingdom of the Iberians ( ka, ქართველთა სამეფო, tr) was a medieval Georgian monarchy under the Bagrationi dynasty which emerged circa 888 AD, succeeding the Principality of Iberia, in historical region of Tao ...

shared this same flag. The flag of the Kingdom of Abkhazia had 4 green strips in a dextral position, while the left side contained the cross seen on the current Georgian flag.

Medieval Georgian flags

The white flag with the single red St. George's cross was supposedly used by King Vakhtang I in the 5th century. According to tradition, King Tamar (d. 1213) used a flag with a dark red cross and a star in a white field. In the 1367 map by

, the flag of ''Tifilis'' (Tbilisi) is shown as a

(a large cross with smaller crosses in each quarter). According to D. Kldiashvili (1997), the Jerusalem cross might have been adopted during the reign of George V of Georgia, King George V.

Collapse of Kingdom of Georgia

After the collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia, its successor states adopted their own flags, with most of them using animals as their representative symbols.

Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (1762–1801)

The kingdom was formed through the unification of Kartli and Kakheti. The flag had a white cross against a black background. The country lost its independence in 1801 to annexation by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)

While not technically a Georgian flag, this flag is of importance as Georgia was one of the founding countries of the federation. The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic's flag was a tricolour design, with a dark yellow top band, a black middle band, and a red bottom band.

Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918–1921)

During Georgia's brief existence as an independent state as the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...

from 1918–1921 , a flag consisting of a dark red field with black and white bands in the canton was adopted; coincidentally, the black and white bands resemble both the civilian flag of Prussia (used until 1933) and the flag of the Swiss canton of Fribourg, especially the latter. The design resulted from a national flag-designing contest won by the painter Iakob Nikoladze. It was abolished by the

following the 1921 incorporation of Georgia into the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, Georgia adopted a modified version with the black and white bars extended (see below).

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (1921–1991)

During the Soviet period, Georgia adopted several variants of the red Soviet flag incorporating first the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic's name, and later a red hammer and sickle with a star in a blue sun in the canton and a blue bar in the upper part of flag. The flag of the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

was replaced by the flag of the Democratic Republic of Georgia by the Georgian government in November 1990, shortly before it declared independence from the Soviet Union.

Georgia (1991–2004)

The previous flag used by the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921 was reestablished as the flag of the Republic of Georgia on 8 December 1991, by the

Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia The Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს რესპუბლიკის უზენაესი საბჭო, ''sakartvelos respublikis uzenaesi sabcho'') was the highest unicameral legislative bo ...

. However, it lost popularity thereafter as it became associated with the chaotic and violent period after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The wine-red color symbolises the good times of the past as well as the future, whilst the black represents Russian rule, and the white represents hope for peace. This flag was later replaced by the current Georgian flag following the bloodless

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flag Of Georgia (Country)

Georgia (country) Georgia (, ; ) is a transcontinental country at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, by Russia to the north and northeast, by Turkey to the southwes ...

National symbols of Georgia (country)