The ikurriña, with its white cross and its green saltire on a red ground, was created in 1894 by the Arana brothers and today is the official flag of the Basque Country.
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 14:25 ratio (wider than it is high) in red. On it there are two overlapping crosses: a green saltire, that is, a diagonal from corner to corner, and on top of it a white one, straight, which reaches all four edges.
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.
The brothers Luis and Sabino Arana, founder of the Basque Nationalist Party, designed the flag…
In 1936, with the Civil War already begun
After Franco’s death it was tolerated in 1977 and
In 1979 the law fixed its exact measurements
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The ikurriña is the flag of the Basque Country. It is red and bears two overlapping crosses: a green one in the shape of a saltire and a white one, straight. The name comes from Basque: ikur means “symbol”. For decades it was banned, and so it became a symbol of freedom for many Basques.
The brothers Luis and Sabino Arana, founder of the Basque Nationalist Party, designed the flag in 1894. It was hoisted for the first time on 14 July of that year, at the inauguration of a nationalist venue in Bilbao. At first it was only the flag of Biscay, and it was based on the coat of arms of that territory.
Little by little it came to represent the seven Basque lands on both sides of the Pyrenees. In 1936, with the Civil War already begun, the Basque Government declared it official. With Franco’s victory, it was banned for almost forty years.
After Franco’s death it was tolerated in 1977 and, with the Gernika Statute of Autonomy of 1979, it became official once more.
The flag has been the same since 1894. In 1979 the law fixed its exact measurements, with a green cross and a white one overlapping.
Arana explained the symbols in his writings in political and religious terms. This is the most widespread reading:
Red
the ground of the flag of Biscay, which gave rise to the ikurriña.
Green cross
the saltire of Saint Andrew, a diagonal cross, which comes from the coat of arms of Biscay.
White cross
according to Arana, religion, taken from his motto “God and the Ancient Law”.
Sabino Arana created the name “ikurriña”. He formed it from ikur, “symbol” in Basque, and the word for cloth.
On 5 December 1976, the captains of Real Sociedad and Athletic, Kortabarria and Iribar, walked out onto the pitch at Atotxa with an ikurriña before the derby. It was one of the first times it was shown in public after Franco’s death.
On 18 July 1946, the former captain Joseba Elosegi placed a gigantic ikurriña on the lightning rod of the cathedral of the Good Shepherd, in San Sebastián, in the middle of the dictatorship.
Test what you have read about the flag of Basque Country.
Text based on the article “Ikurriña” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Daniele Schirmo aka Frankie688, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5.
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