Three stripes in red, white and green that Hungary adopted in 1848, and whose coat of arms changed with every regime until it was left off in 1957.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil and stateFIAV 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 1:2 ratio and 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.
In 1848 the Hungarians rebelled against Austrian rule
The Constitution of 2011 gives an official meaning to each colour
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Hungary has three horizontal stripes of the same size: red, white and green. Its colours are those of Italy, but placed horizontally. It is much longer than most: its length is twice its height.
The colours come from the old Hungarian coat of arms. One half has red and white stripes; the other, a white cross on a red ground, driven into some green hills. By the early seventeenth century the three colours already appeared together on the silk cords hanging from the seals of the kings.
The three-stripe shape came later, copying the idea of the flag of the French Revolution. In 1848 the Hungarians rebelled against Austrian rule, and a law of that year made the red, white and green tricolour the national flag.
The stripes have not changed since 1848. What went on changing was the coat of arms in the centre, depending on who was in power.
1848
The tricolour becomes official, often with the coat of arms of the kingdom and its crown.
1915-1946
The coat of arms carries the Holy Crown above it, that of St Stephen, the first king of Hungary.
1946-1949
Hungary becomes a republic and the coat of arms loses its crown.
1949-1956
The communist government imposes a Soviet-style coat of arms, with hammer, ear of wheat and red star.
1956
During the revolution against the regime, people cut the communist coat of arms out of their flags and left a hole.
1957
After crushing the revolution, the new government leaves the flag without a coat of arms. It has stayed that way until today.
The Constitution of 2011 gives an official meaning to each colour. It is a nineteenth-century idea the law has made its own:
Red
strength.
White
fidelity.
Green
hope.
In 1956 the demonstrators cut the communist coat of arms out of their flags. That holed flag became the great symbol of the revolution.
On days of mourning, instead of lowering the flag to half mast, the Hungarian tradition is to hang black flags on the buildings.
A rule of 2000 requires flags on public buildings to be washed at least every three months and replaced with new ones every year.
Test what you have read about the flag of Hungary.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Hungría” 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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