Blue and red with a golden crown, added in 1937 when the country discovered at the Olympic Games that its flag was the same as that of Haiti.
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Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil, state and military, 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 with two stripes and a crown.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
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Liechtenstein is a principality in the Alps, between Switzerland and Austria, born in 1719 when…
The blue and red came from elsewhere: they were the colours of the livery, the uniform…
From 1852 they were used as the colours of the country
The Constitution of 1921 fixed the horizontal stripes, blue above and red below
That crown was not there at first: it was added in 1937
Its drawing is touched up a little in 1957
A law of 30 June 1982 modernises the drawing of the crown
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Liechtenstein has two horizontal stripes, blue above and red below, with a golden crown in the upper corner. That crown was not there at first: it was added in 1937, after the country discovered at some Olympic Games that its flag was exactly the same as that of another country.
Liechtenstein is a principality in the Alps, between Switzerland and Austria, born in 1719 when two small territories, Vaduz and Schellenberg, were united. At first its flag used the gold and red of the arms of the princes’ family.
The blue and red came from elsewhere: they were the colours of the livery, the uniform of the prince’s servants, which already appears in documents of 1764. From 1852 they were used as the colours of the country, sometimes in vertical stripes and sometimes horizontal. The Constitution of 1921 fixed the horizontal stripes, blue above and red below.
The flag went from gold and red to blue and red, and afterwards gained a crown.
1719-1852
The gold and red of the arms of the princely family.
1852-1921
The blue and red arrive. They are often placed in vertical stripes.
1921-1937
The Constitution fixes two horizontal stripes, blue and red, with no drawing at all.
1937-1982
On 24 June 1937 the prince’s crown is added. Its drawing is touched up a little in 1957.
1982
A law of 30 June 1982 modernises the drawing of the crown.
In 1937, the head of the government, Josef Hoop, explained the colours like this:
Blue
the clear sky.
Red
the embers of the hearth at the evening gatherings.
Golden crown
that the people, the country and the prince’s family are united “in heart and spirit”.
At the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, the Liechtenstein delegation realised that its flag was the same as the civil flag of Haiti: blue above and red below. The following year the crown was added to tell them apart.
The 1982 law also provides for a long version to hang vertically. In it, the crown is turned so that it stays upright.
What the flag carries is not exactly a royal crown, but the ceremonial cap of a prince. Some flag books call it that, “prince’s cap”.
Where it is and what borders it.
Test what you have read about the flag of Liechtenstein.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Liechtenstein” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Mnmazur and others, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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