Flag of Poland
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|
bicolour of white and red | |
Flag with coat of arms of the Republic of Poland | |
bicolour of white and red defaced with the arms of Poland in the white stripe. | |
Use | Naval ensign |
---|---|
Proportion | 10:21 |
Adopted | 19 February 1993 |
Design | A flag consisting of two stripes, white and red, terminated in two triangular tongues on a free leech. In the center of the white strip, in the part between the louvre and the apex of the indentation between the tongues, is the emblem of the Republic of Poland. |
Pennant of the president of the Republic of Poland | |
Use | Presidential standard |
Proportion | 5:6 |
Adopted | 1919 (original) 1927 (officially) 26 January 1996 (restored) |
Design | Crowned white eagle in a red field bordered with a white wavy line. |
The national flag of Poland (Polish: flaga Polski) consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colours are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white fess is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea. A similar flag with the addition of a white eagle is used as the naval ensign of Poland.
White and red were officially adopted as national colours in 1831, although these were associated with Poland since the
Until 1831, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various colour combinations. The national flag was officially adopted in 1919. Since 2004, Polish Flag Day has been celebrated on 2 May.
The flag is flown continuously on the buildings of the highest national authorities, such as the
Horizontal bicolours of white and red being a relatively widespread design, several flags are similar but unrelated to the Polish one. Two national flags (Indonesia and Monaco) have the red stripe above the white one. In Poland, many flags based on the national design also feature the national colours.
It is one of five flags that use the 5:8 ratio. The other four flags include those of Argentina, Guatemala, Palau, and Sweden.
Design
Legal sources
The colours and flags of the Republic of Poland are described in two legal documents: the
Legislation concerning the national symbols is far from perfect. The Coat of Arms Act has been amended several times and refers extensively to executive ordinances, some of which have never been issued. Moreover, the Act contains errors, omissions and inconsistencies which make the law confusing, open to various interpretations and often not followed in practice.[3]
National colours
Colour[a] | x | y | Y | ΔE | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
White | 0.315 | 0.320 | 82.0 | 4.0 | |
Red | 0.570 | 0.305 | 16.0 | 8.0 | |
Illuminant C, measurement geometry d/0 |
According to Chapter I, Article 28, paragraph 2 of the Constitution, the national colours of Poland are white and red.
Variants of the national flag
The Constitution contains no mention of a national flag. Instead, the flag is defined by the Coat of Arms Act which specifies two variants of the national flag: the national flag of the Republic of Poland (flaga państwowa Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) and the national flag with coat of arms of the Republic of Poland (flaga państwowa z godłem Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej). Both flags are defined in Article 6 of the act as follows:
- The state flag of the Republic of Poland is a rectangular piece of cloth in the colours of the Republic of Poland hoisted on a flagpole.
- The state flag of the Republic of Poland is also the flag specified in paragraph 1, with the coat of arms of the Republic of Poland placed in the middle of the white stripe.[2]
The
Usage
Right and obligation to fly the flag
According to the Coat of Arms Act, everyone can use the Polish flag, especially during national and cultural events, as long as it is done in a respectful manner.[2] This liberty in the use of national colours is a relative novelty. Until 2004, Polish citizens were only allowed to fly the Polish flag on national holidays. The use of both variants was restricted, but only flying the flag with coat of arms was, from 1955 to 1985, punishable by a fine or arrest for up to one year.[3] After 1985, unauthorised use of any national symbol was an infraction. A possible explanation to such harsh measures was the fact that the officially promoted holiday of 1 May was separated by only one day from the pre-war (and current) national holiday of Poland, the anniversary of signing of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. While hoisting a flag on 1 May was acceptable, no later than the following day it had to be taken down.[5]
That restriction and kind of state monopoly on the use of national symbols during the Communist regime made flying the Polish flag a symbol of resistance against the government. It became customary, as it still is, for workers to hoist Polish flags on plant buildings when going on strike. That is why the Polish flag, as a symbol of patriotism and resistance against the Communist rule, is part of the Solidarity trade union logo.[6]
Flag without coat of arms
The following institutions are required by law to fly the national flag without coat of arms either on top or in front of their official buildings:
- the Sejm (lower house of parliament);
- the Senate (upper house of parliament);
- the President of the Republic;
- the President of the Council of Ministers(Prime Minister);
- Voivodeship sejmiks (provincial legislatures);
- other state and local government organs.
Additionally, the national flag without coat of arms is used as an ensign for inland navigation.[2]
Flag with coat of arms
While the ban on using the flag without coat of arms has been lifted, the use of the national flag with coat of arms is still legally restricted and should be flown only:
- on or in front of Polish embassies, consulates and other representative offices and missions abroad, as well as by Polish ambassadors and consuls on their residences and vehicles;
- at civilian airports and heliports (civil air ensign);
- on civilian airplanes – only during international flights;
- on buildings of seaportauthorities;
- as a merchant (civil) ensign.[2]
In practice, however, the restriction is often ignored and the two flags, with and without the coat of arms, are treated as interchangeable.[3] The variant with the coat of arms, even though its incorrect usage, is often used by the Polonia, or Polish diaspora outside Poland, especially in the United States.[7]
Flag flying days
State and local government organs are legally required, and other institutions and organisations as well as all citizens are encouraged to fly the Polish flag on the following days:
- 1 May – State Holiday (May Day, formerly Labor Day);
- 2 May – Polish National Flag Day;
- 3 May – Constitution Day (along with Polish National Flag Day);
- 11 November – Independence Day.[3]
Common flag practice
The flag is often popularly flown during important sporting events, such as the
According to polls, about one out of three Poles say they own a Polish flag, and about one out of four fly it on national holidays. Such public display of patriotism is much more common in western Poland, especially in Greater Poland, than in other parts of the country.[3]
Flag protocol
Flags in Poland are used according to a customary, rather than legal,
Traditionally, the national flag is reserved to serve either informative or festive purposes. A single specimen of the flag on or in front of a public office building indicates its official role. Multiple flags, on the other hand, are normally used to decorate both public and private buildings to mark special occasions, such as national holidays.[3]
In Polish heraldry, the tincture of the charge has priority in relation to the tincture of the field. In the case of Polish national colours, white, the colour of the White Eagle, should always be placed in a more honorable position than red, the colour of the field of the Polish coat of arms. In the most usual, horizontal alignment, this means that the white stripe is placed above the red one. If the alignment is vertical, the white stripe should be on the left from the onlooker's point of view. If the flag is hung vertically above a street, the white stripe should be placed on the left when looking in the direction of increasing house numbers. If it drapes a coffin, the white stripe should be placed over the heart.[10]
The flag should be raised before 8 a.m. and lowered at sunset, and if flown at night, it should be illuminated.
According to generally accepted standards of respect, the national flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. Care should be taken to prevent the flag from touching the ground, floor or water beneath it. It should be also secured from being torn off or falling to the ground and it should not be flown outdoors during a heavy rain, blizzard or very strong wind. The flag should never be flown dirty, torn or faded. When no longer in a fit condition to be used, it should be disposed of in a dignified manner, preferably by cutting it in half so as to separate the colours and then, burning.[3][10]
When displayed with other flags, the Polish flag should be raised first and lowered last. Each flag must be flown from a separate pole of the same height, but the flag of Poland should be always placed in the most honorable position.[3] It means that if the total number of flags is even, the Polish flag should be placed to its right of the other flags. If the total number of flags is odd, it should be placed in the middle. Alternatively, two Polish flags may be placed, one at each end of the row of flags.[10] The order of precedence for flags is as follows:
- flag of Poland,
- national flags of other countries (in alphabetical order),
- voivodeship flags,
- county flags,
- commune flags,
- European flag,
- flags of domestic organisations,
- flags of international organisations,
- public services flags,
- corporate flags,
- other flags.[10]
The President of the Republic may announce a period of
History
Royal banner
The earliest
In the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), a banner of the Commonwealth was also used, combining the heraldic symbols of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Commonwealth banner was initially plain white emblazoned with the arms of the Commonwealth which consisted of the heraldic charges of Poland (White Eagle) and Lithuania (Pursuer). Since both Polish and Lithuanian coats of arms consisted of white (Argent) charges in a red (Gules) field, these two colours started to be used for the entire banner. During the 17th century, the banner was usually divided into two, three or four horizontal, often swallow-tailed, stripes of red and white.[11][12]
National cockade
In the 18th and 19th centuries, European nations used cockades, or knots of coloured ribbons pinned to the hat, to denote the nationality of their military. In Poland, until 1831, there was no consensus as to what the colours of the national cockade should be. Polish soldiers wore white, white-and-red, blue-and-red or blue-white-red cockades.[11]
The custom came to Poland from
The patriotic and staunchly
During the uprising, the Sejm realized the need for unified national insignia that could be used by the Polish military. On 7 February 1831 it adopted white and red, the
Twentieth century
White-and-red flags were first waved during a patriotic demonstration on 3 May 1916 in Warsaw. The organizing committee advised participants about the correct alignment of the colours, that is with the white stripe above the red one. Still, many demonstrators brought flags with the red stripe on top. On 1 August 1919, almost a year after Poland regained independence in November 1918, the Sejm officially introduced a white-and-red bicolour as the Polish national flag. In order to avoid confusion with the white-and-red maritime signal flag used internationally by harbor pilots and tugboats, the same act of Sejm introduced a variant of the flag with the coat of arms in the white stripe for use as a civil ensign and by Polish diplomats and consuls abroad.[11]
Apart from changes in the legal specifications of the shades of the national colours (see the section below), the basic design of the Polish flag, including the 5:8 ratio, has remained unchanged to this day. The flag with coat of arms was only modified to adjust to the changes in the coat of arms itself. Major modifications included a change in the stylisation of the eagle from Classicist to Baroque in 1927 and the removal of the crown from the eagle's head during the Communist rule from 1944 to 1990.[12][13] In that period, Poland was one of the few socialist states in the Eastern Bloc (apart from the flag of Cuba and Laos) not to adorn communist symbolism on its flag.
20th-century Polish insurgents wore white-and-red
Polish flags were also used by anti-government demonstrators under the Communist rule. During the bloody riots of
Shades of red
Shades of red comparison | |
---|---|
Crimson | |
Amaranth | |
Vermilion | |
Current statutory[a] | |
HTML red |
Until 1927, the exact shades of the national colours were not legally specified. In practice, the actual hue, particularly of red, depended on what kind of red dye was available. In pre-partition Poland,
The National Cockade Act of 1831 did not specify the shade of red, for which it was criticised by Joachim Lelewel,[11] nor did the Coat of Arms and National Colours Act of 1919. In 1921, the Ministry of Military Affairs issued a pamphlet with illustrations of the Polish flag and other national symbols which used the crimson shade of red.[14] The pamphlet was not, however, an official source of law and was published for informative purpose only. The shade of red was first legally specified by a presidential decree of 13 December 1927 which stipulated that the official shade was vermilion. This specification was upheld by a decree of 7 December 1955.[11] The Coat of Arms Act of 31 January 1980[2] replaced the verbal prescription with trichromatic coordinates in the CIE colour space as proposed by Nikodem Sobczak, an expert in colorimetry,[15] bringing the resulting hue closer to crimson again.
Related and similar flags
The flag of the Grand Duchy of Posen, a Polish-populated autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia created in 1815, was a red-and-white horizontal bicolour. Its colours were taken from the duchy's coat of arms which consisted of the Prussian Black Eagle with an inescutcheon of the Polish White Eagle. With Germany's increasingly anti-Polish policy and a rising identification of white and red as Polish national colours, the red-and-white flag of Posen was replaced in 1886 with a white-black-white horizontal triband.[16]
Today, many flags used in Poland are based on the design of the national flag. This applies especially to flags defined by Polish law and used by the Polish military and other uniformed services, such as the naval ensign – a swallow-tailed horizontal bicolour of white and red defaced with the arms of Poland in the white stripe.[17] Flags of some administrative subdivisions also resemble the national flag. Examples include the former flag of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship – a horizontal bicolour of white and red defaced with the arms of the voivodeship – or the flag of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship – a horizontal tricolour of white, yellow and red with the yellow stripe half as wide as any of the other two.[18]
Controversies
Polish law says that treating the national symbols, including the flag, "with reverence and respect" is the "right and obligation" of every Polish citizen and all state organs, institutions and organisations.
See also
Notes
- ^ RGB values, in hexadecimal notation, are: white E9 E8 E7 and red D4 21 3D. The shades actually visible on your screen depend on your browser and screen settings, as well as the surrounding context and other factors. An intensely luminous light background may make the statutory white colour appear grey. Many websites which display the Polish national colours use a simplified approximation of the legally specified shades by using basic HTML colours: white FF FF FF and red FF 00 00. The Pantoneequivalents are 656 C and 1795 C.
References
Citations
- ^ a b Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ustawa o godle... (1980, with amendments)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Informacja o wynikach kontroli... (NIK, 2005)
- ^ Ustawa o godle... (1980, original)
- ISBN 978-83-60496-85-5.
- ^ Niezabitowska
- ^ prezydent.pl
- ^ Magiera
- ^ Polish Religious flags (FOTW)
- ^ a b c d e f Protokół flagowy
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Znamierowski
- ^ a b c d Russocki, Kuczyński, Willaume
- ^ Ustawa o zmianie przepisów o godle... (1990)
- ^ Łoza, Czaykowski
- ^ Bajtlik
- ^ Grand Duchy of Posen... (FOTW)
- ^ Ustawa o znakach Sił Zbrojnych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (1993)
- ^ Kromer
- ^ Article 137 §1 of the penal code (Kodeks karny) of 6 June 1997
- ^ Article 49 §2 of the infraction code (Kodeks wykroczeń) of 20 May 1971
Sources
Books
- Russocki Stanisław; Kuczyński Stefan; Willaume Juliusz (1970). Godło, barwy i hymn Rzeczypospolitej. Zarys dziejów [Arms, Colors, and Anthem of the Republic. A Historical Sketch] (in Polish). Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna.
- Znamierowski, Alfred (1995). Stworzony do chwały [Created for Glory] (in Polish). Warsaw: Editions Spotkania. ISBN 83-7115-055-5.
- Law
- Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 2 kwietnia 1997 r. [Constitution of the Republic of Poland], Dz. U. z 1997 r. Nr 78, poz. 483 (1997-04-02)
- Ustawa z dnia 6 czerwca 1997 r. – Kodeks karny [Penal Code], Dz. U. z 1997 r. Nr 88, poz. 553 (1997-06-06)
- Ustawa z dnia 18 stycznia 1951 r. o dniach wolnych od pracy [Non-Working Days Act], Dz. U. z 1951 r. Nr 4, poz. 28 (1951-01-18)
- Ustawa z dnia 31 stycznia 1980 r. o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz o pieczęciach państwowych [Arms, Colors, and Anthem of the Republic of Poland, and State Seals Act], Dz. U. z 1980 r. Nr 7, poz. 18 (1980-01-31)
- Ustawa z dnia 6 kwietnia 1990 r. o przywróceniu Święta Narodowego Trzeciego Maja [Reestablishment of the National Day of the Third of May Act], Dz. U. z 1990 r. Nr 28, poz. 160 (1990-04-06)
- Ustawa z dnia 9 lutego 1990 r. o zmianie przepisów o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej [Amendment to the Arms, Colors, and Anthem of the Republic of Poland Act], Dz. U. z 1990 r. Nr 10, poz. 60 (1990-02-09)
- Ustawa z dnia 19 lutego 1993 r. o znakach Sił Zbrojnych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej [Insignia of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland Act], Dz. U. z 1993 r. Nr 34, poz. 154 (1993-02-19)
Official documents
- "Informacja o wynikach kontroli używania symboli państwowych przez organy administracji publicznej" (PDF) (in Polish). Warsaw: Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli). 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.)
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help - (in Polish and French) Łoza, Stanisław; Czaykowski, Zygmunt (1921). Godło i barwy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej – Armoiries et couleurs de la République polonaise. Warsaw: Ministry of Military Affairs. p. 10.
- (in Polish) Projekt ustawy o zmianie ustawy o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Druk 2149, Warsaw, 15 October 2003
News
- Bajtlik, Stanisław (1 May 2008). "Szyjemy flagę narodową". Agora. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
- Magiera, Marek (9 June 2006). "Zaczyna się mundial..." Życie Częstochowskie (in Polish). Beta Press S.C. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- Molak, Wiesław; Sakiewicz, Tomasz (2 May 2007). "Bogdan Borusewicz gościem w "Sygnałach dnia"". Interview with Bogdan Borusewicz in Program 1 Polskiego Radia (in Polish). Law and Justice. Archived from the originalon 25 October 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- National Geographic.
Web
- "Flaga". Official website of the President of the Republic of Poland (in Polish). Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. Archived from the originalon 27 September 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
- Flags of the World – subpages:
- "Bohemia (Czech Republic)". Retrieved 2 November 2007.
- "Colors of Flags". Retrieved 4 November 2007.
- "Grand Duchy of Posen 1815–1849, Posen Province 1849–1920 (Prussia, Germany)". Retrieved 2 November 2007.
- "Polish Religious flags". Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- Kromer, Adam. "Flagi województw polskich". Polskie flagi, chorągwie, bandery... (in Polish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
- "Protokół flagowy – Jak postępować z flagami" (in Polish). Instytut Heraldyczno-Weksylologiczny. 11 July 2005. Archived from the original on 1 July 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
- Sarajčić, Ivan. "Flag Identifier". Retrieved 3 February 2008.
External links