Three stripes in white, green and red inspired by the Russian flag and approved in 1879, when Bulgaria became independent again.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil and state, on land and at seaFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 3:5 ratio divided into three equal horizontal stripes.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
As early as the 1860s some rebel groups used those colours
In 1877 war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire
Its first Constitution, approved in 1879 in the city of Tarnovo
The coat of arms changes and bears two dates: 681, the year the first Bulgarian state was born,…
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Bulgaria has three horizontal stripes of the same size: white, green and red. It carries no coat of arms and no drawing at all. It was born at the end of a war that gave Bulgaria its independence back after almost five centuries.
For almost five hundred years Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire. In the nineteenth century, many Slavic peoples who wanted to be free looked to Russia, the only large independent Slavic country. According to many historians, the Bulgarians took the Russian flag —white, blue and red— and swapped the blue for the green. As early as the 1860s some rebel groups used those colours.
In 1877 war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and thousands of Bulgarian volunteers fought alongside the Russians. When it ended, Bulgaria became a state again. Its first Constitution, approved in 1879 in the city of Tarnovo, fixed the white, green and red tricolour.
The stripes have not changed since 1879. Only under the communist regime did it carry a coat of arms.
1877
A flag sewn for the volunteers joins the three colours in this order for the first time. It bears an embroidered lion.
1879-1946
The Constitution of Tarnovo approves the tricolour without the lion.
1946-1971
The communist regime puts its coat of arms on the white stripe: a lion surrounded by ears of wheat and a red star. The drawing changes several times.
1971-1990
The coat of arms changes and bears two dates: 681, the year the first Bulgarian state was born, and 1944, the year the communists came to power.
1990
On 27 November, after the fall of communism, the coat of arms is removed and the plain tricolour returns.
The law does not explain the colours. The most widespread interpretation is this:
White
peace and freedom.
Green
the fertile land and the countryside, very important to Bulgaria.
Red
the courage of the people and the blood spilled for independence.
The flag of 1877 was embroidered by Stiliana Paraskevova in Brăila, a city in Romania, on her father’s commission. It took her six months and she did it in secret. In 1930, already grown up, she was able to see it again in the palace where it was kept, and she kissed it weeping.
Some charts by Italian navigators from the fourteenth century draw a flag for Bulgaria. Nobody can check whether it was really used.
Although the official flag carries no coat of arms, a version with the current coat of arms on the left is still often seen. It is probably nostalgia for the flag of the communist era.
Where it is and what borders it.
Test what you have read about the flag of Bulgaria.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Bulgaria” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: SKopp, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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