Flag of Poland

What the flag of Poland looks like

The Polish flag has two horizontal stripes of equal height. The upper one is white and the lower one is red. The flag's proportions are 5:8. Polish law specifies the official shades of both colors as coordinates in the CIE color space.

There are two official versions of the national flag. The first is the plain white-and-red bicolor, which is the national flag used by everyone. The second is the flag with the coat of arms: the same bicolor with the white eagle in a gold crown, on a red shield, set in the center of the white stripe. This version is legally reserved for Polish embassies, consulates and other missions abroad, civilian airports and heliports, seaport authorities and use as a merchant ensign. That is why people often ask why Poland has two flags. The flag with the coat of arms does not replace the plain flag.

A small image of the flag appears as the Poland flag emoji, and you can download a file from the download page.

Poland flag meaning and symbolism

The colors of the flag come from the tinctures of the coats of arms of the two nations of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: the White Eagle of Poland and the white knight on horseback (the Pursuer) of Lithuania, both on a red shield. A red banner with the White Eagle was established as the banner of the Kingdom of Poland in the reign of Ladislaus the Short (1320-1333). Poles use the term barwy narodowe (national colors) for white and red.

In Polish heraldry the white of the eagle takes precedence over the red of the shield, which is why the white stripe is placed above the red one.

Crimson, obtained from the domestically harvested Polish cochineal, was an expensive color associated with the nobility in pre-partition Poland. Until 1928 the exact shades of the flag were not legally specified.

History of the Polish flag

White and red were the colors of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its royal banners showed the white eagle on a red field, but the kingdom had no national flag in the modern sense. A white-and-red cockade came into use alongside the plain white one in the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, but soldiers wore various color combinations until 1831. On 7 February 1831 the Sejm (the parliament), during the November Uprising against Russian rule, adopted white and red as the national cockade and colors.

From 1795 Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria, and for 123 years there was no independent state. White-and-red flags and armbands were used by Poles in uprisings and protests, and the colors were a symbol of the desire for independence. Polish insurgents and soldiers wore white-and-red armbands in the 20th century, and a white-and-red flag was hoisted on the Prudential building in Warsaw on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.

When Poland regained its independence in 1918, the white-and-red flag was an obvious choice. A resolution of the Sejm on 1 August 1919 gave the flag its first legal definition, as white above red. A presidential decree of 13 December 1927 first legally specified the shade of red. The flag remained the same in the communist period (1945-89), and the present rules are based on the Act on the Coat of Arms, Colors and Anthem of the Republic of Poland of 1980, which was amended after 1989. In 2004 Poland established 2 May as Flag Day.

Poland flag vs Indonesia and Monaco

The Polish flag is the reverse of the flag of Indonesia, which is red above white. Indonesia's flag has a ratio of 2:3. The flag of Monaco is also red above white, with a ratio of 4:5. Poland puts white at the top. These flags are similar but unrelated.