Flag of Georgia
the five-cross flag
Georgia's flag is white with a large red cross that touches all four edges and a smaller red cross in each of the four corners.
At a glance
- Adopted
- January 14, 2004
- Shape (height : width)
- 2:3
- Capital
- Tbilisi
- Colours
- white
- red
What it means
- Crosses: there is no official meaning; they show Georgia's long Christian history. The five crosses are often explained as Jesus Christ and the four writers of the Gospels, or as the five holy wounds
- Design as a whole: it is similar to the Jerusalem cross, a crusader-era design of one big cross with four small ones
Where it came from
Georgians link the design to banners of the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, and a coin of King David IV shows a cross motif. A map from 1367 also shows a red five-cross flag on white for Tbilisi, though how widely the medieval kingdom used this flag is not certain.
In modern times the five-cross flag was revived during the national revival of the 1990s and became the symbol of the opposition National Movement in the 2003 Rose Revolution.
History
When Georgia was independent from 1918 to 1921, its flag was dark red with black and white bands in the corner, designed by the painter Iakob Nikoladze. Under Soviet rule Georgia used red Soviet flags. The 1918 flag came back in 1991.
Parliament voted for the five-cross flag in 1999, but the president did not sign it. After the Rose Revolution, Parliament adopted it on 14 January 2004, which is now Georgia's Flag Day.
Fun facts
- The law says the colours of the flag must never be changed: plain red and white.
- In 2018 the official drawing was corrected because the sizes in the 2004 drawing did not quite fit together.
- 14 January is celebrated as Flag Day in Georgia.
- The big red cross looks like England's flag, but with four extra crosses.
Easy to mix up with
Switzerland: Switzerland has a white cross on red, the opposite colours
Questions
What does the flag of Georgia look like?
Georgia's flag is white with a large red cross that touches all four edges and a smaller red cross in each of the four corners.
What do the colours and symbols on the flag of Georgia mean?
Crosses: there is no official meaning; they show Georgia's long Christian history. The five crosses are often explained as Jesus Christ and the four writers of the Gospels, or as the five holy wounds; Design as a whole: it is similar to the Jerusalem cross, a crusader-era design of one big cross with four small ones.
When was the flag of Georgia adopted?
The current flag of Georgia was adopted on January 14, 2004.
What colours are on the flag of Georgia?
The flag of Georgia uses white and red.
Which flag is easy to mix up with the flag of Georgia?
It is easy to mix up with the flag of Switzerland. Switzerland has a white cross on red, the opposite colours
Famous landmarks in Georgia
🎯 Play the flag quiz 🌍 Play the globe
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org
- crwflags.com
- Flag picture: flagcdn.com (Wikimedia Commons)