A yellow sun with eight rays on a red ground: the design that replaced the controversial Vergina Sun in 1995 after a long dispute with Greece.
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.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, twice as long as it is high, in red, with a yellow sun in the centre.
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.
Until 1991, Macedonia was one of the republics of Yugoslavia
On becoming independent, in 1992 it chose a red flag with the so-called Vergina Sun
The argument escalated: in 1994 Greece closed the border to trade with its neighbour
In September 1995 the two countries signed a provisional agreement
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of North Macedonia is red with a yellow sun in the centre. Its eight rays widen until they touch the edges, as if the sun filled the whole cloth. It is a striking design, and it was born to close a dispute with Greece.
Until 1991, Macedonia was one of the republics of Yugoslavia. On becoming independent, in 1992 it chose a red flag with the so-called Vergina Sun, a golden sun of sixteen rays. That symbol had been found in some royal tombs of ancient Macedonia, in the locality of Vergina, which is today in Greece.
For Greece, that sun was part of its own history, and it protested strongly. The argument escalated: in 1994 Greece closed the border to trade with its neighbour. In September 1995 the two countries signed a provisional agreement, and the new State undertook to change its flag. On 5 October 1995 the Parliament approved the current design, the work of the architect Miroslav Grčev.
In less than fifty years the country has had three flags, all red and yellow.
1946-1992
As a republic of Yugoslavia, it uses a red flag with a yellow-edged star.
1992-1995
Now independent, it adopts the Vergina Sun, which triggers the dispute with Greece.
1995
The sun changes shape: fewer rays, wider, and reaching to the edges.
The sun is the protagonist:
Sun
the “new sun of liberty” spoken of in the national anthem.
Eight rays
the shape that distinguishes this sun from that of Vergina.
Red and yellow
the colours the country already used in its flag and its coat of arms from the Yugoslav era.
When the country joined the UN in 1993, its flag was not hoisted outside the headquarters in New York. It was the first time the UN accepted a member without its flag.
Grčev drew it with a ratio of 5 by 8, close to the so-called golden ratio. The Parliament changed it to 1 by 2, twice as long as it is high.
In 2006, in a football match against England in Skopje, the fans unfurled a flag of 28 by 50 metres.
In 2018, the Prespa Agreement changed the name of the country to North Macedonia and provided for the Vergina Sun to be withdrawn from public spaces.
Test what you have read about the flag of North Macedonia.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Macedonia del Norte” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: User:SKopp, redrawn by User:Gabbe, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
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