Green, white and red with a Swiss cross: the flag the republicans of 1848 adopted on dethroning the king of Prussia, without ever approving it by law.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a square field divided into three equal vertical stripes (bands of colour): green by the flagpole (the hoist side), white in the middle and red at the fly side (the free side). In the upper corner of the red stripe there is a white cross.
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.
Neuchâtel lived a unique situation: from 1707 its prince was the king of Prussia
On 1 March 1848 the republicans dethroned the prince and adopted the flag of their party
In 1857 the king renounced every claim
The cross in the corner was added in 1870
Returning to the old standard was put to a vote in 1923
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
Three vertical bands, green, white and red, with a white cross by the flagpole: the flag of Neuchâtel is the one that won a revolution without firing a shot.
Neuchâtel lived a unique situation: from 1707 its prince was the king of Prussia, and from 1815 the country was a Swiss canton with nominal obedience to that crown. On 1 March 1848 the republicans dethroned the prince and adopted the flag of their party, with no formal law, to the derision of the royalists. In 1857 the king renounced every claim.
The tricolour replaced the old battle standard, a yellow field with a red band and three white arrowheads. The cross in the corner was added in 1870, according to the vexillologist Otto Angst, so as not to confuse it with the Italian flag. Returning to the old standard was put to a vote in 1923, 1931 and 1954, and it always lost.
Red
the vineyard of the south.
White
the limestone walls of the valleys.
Green
the pastures and forests of the north.
Cross
Switzerland, in its ancient version, with long arms.
Between 1815 and 1857, Neuchâtel was a Swiss canton and owed nominal obedience to the king of Prussia: a crown thousands of kilometres away.
The standard of 1350, more tied to the history of the country, was put to a vote in 1923, 1931 and 1954: the revolutionary tricolour always won.
Matching each stripe with a landscape (vineyards, walls, forests) was collected in 2001 by Le Temps, citing the canton’s archivists.
Test what you have read about the flag of Neuchâtel.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Autor desconocido, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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