Flag of Schwyz

The flag of Schwyz is red with a small white cross in the upper corner by the flagpole. It is the canton that gave the country its name, and its field is the oldest in origin and the most recent in form: the cross as seen today was measured by law in the twentieth century.

How it came about

Tradition tells that in 1240 Emperor Frederick II handed the people of Schwyz the red war standard of the Empire, a symbol of sovereignty; it was a completely red field, carried at the battles of Morgarten (1315) and Sempach (1386). From the fourteenth century the corner by the flagpole was decorated with a scene of the Crucifixion, the so-called Heilig Rych (holy realm), which Pope Sixtus IV confirmed in 1480 with the crown of thorns and the nails. The white cross, on the other hand, has been on the arms since a stained-glass window of 1579 and only became usual on the flag after 1815.

How it has changed

In 1815 the canton defined its coat of arms and removed every representation of the Passion: the red and the small cross remained. On 23 December 1963 the cantonal government fixed in writing the proportions of the cross, which until then had been drawn without a common measure: arms three times longer than wide, taking up a third of the field and separated from the edge by a third of an arm.

What it means

• Red

  the imperial war standard; according to tradition, gifted in 1240 as a sign of freedom within the Empire.

• White cross

  added centuries later; it became the emblem of the Confederation and reached the Swiss flag, although the national cross does not derive from the Schwyz model.

Fun facts

1. The canton that named a country

   Switzerland is named after Schwyz: the confederates were, at first, the men of this valley, and its red colour influenced the national flag.

2. The cross came out of a missal, according to legend

   One story holds that the cross was cut out of a missal gifted to Count Rudo; no document confirms it, but it has circulated since the fifteenth century.

3. The canton that split and lasted two years

   Between 1831 and 1833 the outer districts of Schwyz separated to form their own half-canton, Ausserschwyz, with a flag of its own; in 1833 they returned to the cantonal body.

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