Flag of Austria

A white stripe between two red ones: one of the oldest flags in the world, with colours documented as early as 1230.

Learn to read it Test yourself

The flag, in figures

Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.

Proportions: 2:33 wide for every 2 high. 989 flags in the catalogue share it.
Properties: Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Use: Civil, on land and at seaFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.
Adopted: 19451 May 1945 · 81 years ago
Colours: red
white
Reference shades: the official one may vary slightly.
Coat of arms: YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.
Out of use since: 13 March 1938

Take a closer look

The three stripes
1
The white stripe
2
The upper red stripe

How it is described

The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.

Vexillological description

It is a rectangular field with a 2:3 ratio made up of three equal horizontal stripes.

Stripes: red, white and red, from top to bottom, of the same thickness.
Field: the civil and national flag carries no drawing at all.
State variant: the one flown by the ministries adds in the centre the black federal eagle with a broken chain in each claw.

What it carries

Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.

Its history in dates

Every date in its story, at a glance.

1230
The colours are documented as early as 1230
1945
The current flag was reconstituted on 1 May 1945

The full story

How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.

The flag of Austria is a field of three equal horizontal stripes: red, white and red. With no drawing at all in the civil version.

How it came about

Austria is a federal republic in central Europe. The colours are documented as early as 1230, on the coat of arms of the Duke of Austria. The current flag was reconstituted on 1 May 1945, at the end of the Second World War.

How it has changed

It has had two lives: the medieval one, documented from 1230, and the reconstitution of 1945 after the Third Reich, which had used a different banner. The flag of 1945 recovered the red and white tricolour.

What it means

Red
the upper stripe.
White
the middle stripe.
Red
the lower stripe.
State variant
the one flown by the ministries adds in the centre the black federal eagle with a broken chain in each claw.

Fun facts

Colours documented from 1230
The colours red and white appear on the coat of arms of the Duke of Austria in 1230. It is one of the current flags with the oldest colour documentation: eight centuries of continuity in the same tones.
Reconstituted in 1945
The current flag was reconstituted on 1 May 1945, when the war ended. The regime that had replaced it with a different banner. The one of 1945 recovered the tricolour.
The state version carries an eagle
The flag flown by the ministries is not identical to the civil one: it carries the black federal eagle in the centre of the red stripe, with a broken chain in each claw.