Flag of Cambodia

What the flag of Cambodia looks like

The Cambodian flag is made of a blue band at the top, a red band in the middle and a blue band at the bottom. The red band is twice as tall as each blue one, so red takes up half of the flag. In the center sits a white image of the temple complex of Angkor Wat, drawn with its three visible towers and a wide base. The temple has five towers in reality, but only three can be seen from the front, and that is how it appears on the flag. The white temple is outlined in black, and the gray shades in the measured colors come from that outline.

The flag is wider than it is tall. The temple stands in the center of the red band. There is no text on it. Compared with the flag of Laos or Thailand, which also use blue and red, the Cambodian flag stands out because of the temple.

The Cambodia flag emoji, 🇰🇭, shows the same stripes and a small temple. Do not confuse it with 🇨🇩, which is the flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Cambodia flag meaning and symbolism

Red and blue are traditionally the colors of Cambodia, with red representing the nation and blue the king. The three elements of the flag are also often linked to the national motto, Nation, Religion, King, with the white temple read as religion.

Angkor Wat is the key symbol. It was built in the 12th century under King Suryavarman II as a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu, and it later became a Buddhist site. Because of this history, the question whether Cambodia is a Hindu or Buddhist country has a simple present-day answer: Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion, but the Hindu heritage is visible in the temple. The temple is the pride of Khmer culture and a reminder of the Khmer Empire, and it is the country's best-known landmark.

History of the Cambodian flag

Since around 1875 the Cambodian flag has featured a depiction of Angkor Wat in the center. The current design, with blue border stripes and a red central one in a 1:2:1 ratio, was adopted in 1948 after the Second World War, during a period of reforms and unrest under French colonial rule. Cambodia became fully independent in 1953 and kept it.

The flag changed with the country's politics. In 1970 the monarchy was abolished and the Khmer Republic used a blue flag with a red canton holding a white temple and three white stars. Under the Khmer Rouge, the state of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-79) used a red flag with a yellow three-tower temple from 1976. After the Vietnamese-backed government took power, the People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-89) used a red flag with a yellow five-tower temple, and the State of Cambodia, which governed until the early 1990s, kept a similar design with a blue band.

During the 1992-93 transition a United Nations (UNTAC) flag was used alongside the State of Cambodia flag. After the 1993 elections the 1948 flag was readopted in June 1993 and the monarchy was restored in September, and it has been the national flag since. The older flag is sometimes said to have used a red outline for the temple, while the current one uses black. The royal family also has its own standard, separate from the national flag.