A blue field with a white saltire bordered by green.
Theflag of Georgia (Georgian:საქართველოს სახელმწიფო დროშა,romanized:sakartvelos sakhelmts'ipo drosha), also known as theFive-Cross Flag (ხუთჯვრიანი დროშა,khutjvriani drosha), is one of thenational symbols ofGeorgia. Originally abanner of the medievalKingdom of Georgia, it was repopularised in the late 20th and early 21st centuries during the Georgian national revival.
The flag was adopted by Parliament on 14 January 2004.[6] Saakashvili formally endorsed it via Presidential Decree No. 31 signed on 25 January,[7] following his election as president. 14 January is annually marked as aFlag Day in Georgia.[6]
In 2021, acoin was discovered, minted during the reign of KingDavid IV. According to Georgia'sState Council of Heraldry, the engraving on its reverse side displays a "folded five-cross composition" and thus is an unmistakable historical connection of the design of the Georgian national flag with King David IV.[8][9]
The five crosses on the current Georgian flag are sometimes interpreted as representing either theFive Holy Wounds, or alternativelyChrist and theFour Evangelists.[10] The national flag of Georgia, as described in the decree:[11]
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 fourbolnur-katskhuri crosses (also referred to as a Georgian Cross or aGrapevine cross) of the same color as the large cross.
The first Georgian flag design came about during the era of the early Georgian state, thePrincipality of Iberia which had a red cross against a white background, similar to theflag of England.The subsequentKingdom of Tao-Klarjeti shared this same flag.
The white flag with the single redSt. George's cross was supposedly used byKing Vakhtang I in the 5th century[12] According to tradition,Queen Tamar (d. 1213) used a flag with a dark red cross and a star in a white field.[13] In the 1367 map byDomenico and Francesco Pizzigano, the flag ofTifilis (Tbilisi) is shown as aJerusalem cross (a large cross with smaller crosses in each quarter). According to D. Kldiashvili (1997), the Jerusalem cross might have been adopted during the reign ofKing George V.[14]
During Georgia's brief existence as an independent state as theDemocratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921, a flag consisting of a dark red field with black and white bands in the canton was adopted. The design resulted from a national flag-designing contest won by the painterIakob Nikoladze. It was abolished by theSoviet Union following the 1921 incorporation of Georgia into the USSR. After the collapse of the USSR, Georgia adopted a modified version with the length extended (see below).
During the Soviet period, Georgia adopted several variants of thered Soviet flag incorporating first theGeorgian Soviet Socialist Republic's name, and later a redhammer and sickle with astar in a blue sun in thecanton and a blue bar in the upper part of flag. The flag of theGeorgian SSR was replaced by the flag of the Democratic Republic of Georgia by the Georgian government in November 1990, shortly before itdeclared independence from the Soviet Union.
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 theSupreme Council of the Republic of Georgia. However, it lost popularity thereafter as it became associated with the chaotic and violent period after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thewine-red colour 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.[15] This flag was later replaced by the current Georgian flag following the bloodlessRose Revolution. The flag is still used by supporters of former president of Georgia,Zviad Gamsakhurdia.
^Decree of the President of Georgia No. 32 of 25 January 2004.
^"The new flag of Georgia does not seem to be related with this historical banner. The flag of the National Movement was unknown ten years ago [1993] and was called 'the Georgian historical national flag' by the opposition leaders only after publications by the Georgian vexillologist I.L. Bichikashvili." Mikhail Revnivtsev, 25 November 2003"Georgia".crwflags.com.Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved27 May 2024.
^"A majority of Georgians, including the patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, have long favored adopting the five-cross banner as the nation's official flag. But the outgoing president stymied all efforts to make the change. In 1999, the Georgian Parliament voted to change the flag, and all Shevardnadze had to do was issue a supportive Decree. Inexplicably, he refused to do so, instead setting up a powerless Heraldic Commission to study the matter. When Saakashvili founded the National Movement in 2001, therefore, the five-cross flag was the natural choice to illustrate his party's populist bent." Brendan Koerner, "What's With Georgia's Flags?Archived 2018-02-09 at theWayback Machine",Slate, 25 November 2003.
^Theodore E. Dowling, Sketches of Georgian Church History, New York, p 54. D.M.Lang – Georgia in the Reign of Giorgi the Brilliant (1314–1346). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1955), p. 84. G. Macharashwiliდროშა გორგასლიანი, თბ. 2011.
_(cropped).jpg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
.jpg)
