A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours and symbols, which may also be used separately from the flag as a symbol of the nation. The design of a national flag is sometimes altered after the occurrence of important historical events. The burning or destruction of a national flag is a greatly symbolic act.
Westphalia is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of 20,210 square kilometres (7,800 sq mi) and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold. The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederation. The flag was also used by the German Empire from 1848 to 1849. It was officially adopted as the national flag of the German Reich from 1919 to 1933, and has been in use since its reintroduction in Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
The national flag of Poland 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.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard (chequy) that consists of 13 red and 12 white fields. It is also informally known in Croatian as šahovnica. The five smaller shields represent five different historical regions within Croatia.
The coat of arms of Liechtenstein is the arms of dominion of the Prince of Liechtenstein, currently Hans-Adam II. As the sovereign emblem of the Prince, its use is restricted to the Prince and members of his House, though private individuals are permitted to use the arms if it is in the interest of the State. The arms are a history of the House of Liechtenstein and show some of the different territories and families with which it has been connected, either by acquisition or by marriage.
The coat of arms of Puerto Rico was first granted by the Spanish Crown on November 8, 1511, making it the oldest heraldic achievement still currently in use in the Americas. The territory was ceded by Spain to the United States in accordance to the peace treaty that ended the Spanish–American War in 1899, after which two interim arms were adopted briefly. A law was passed in 1905 that reestablished the historical armorial bearings as the arms of the territory. Then in 1976, after numerous investigations and amendments, the current version was adopted.
In vexillology, a state flag is either the flag of the government of a sovereign state, or the flag of an individual federated state.
A cross pattée, cross patty, or cross paty, also known as a cross formy or cross formée, is a type of Christian cross with arms that are narrow at the centre, and often flared in a curve or straight line shape, to be broader at the perimeter. The form appears very early in medieval art, for example in a metalwork treasure binding given to Monza Cathedral by Lombard queen Theodelinda, and the 8th-century lower cover of the Lindau Gospels in the Morgan Library. An early English example from the start of the age of heraldry proper is found in the arms of Baron Berkeley.
The state of Prussia developed from the State of the Teutonic Order. The original flag of the Teutonic Knights had been a black cross on a white flag. Emperor Frederick II in 1229 granted them the right to use the black Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire. This "Prussian Eagle" remained the coats of arms of the successive Prussian states until 1947.
This is a list of coats of arms of Germany.
The coat of arms of the German federal-state of Lower Saxony shows a white Saxon Steed on a red background.
The coat of arms of the present-day German free state of Saxony shows a tenfold horizontally-partitioned field of black (sable) and gold/yellow (or) stripes, charged with a green (vert) crancelin running from the viewer's top-left to bottom-right. Although the crancelin is sometimes shown bent (embowed) like a crown, this is due to artistic license. The coat of arms is also displayed on the state flag of Saxony.
The coat of arms of the German state of Thuringia was introduced in 1990. Like the 1949 coat of arms of Hesse it is based on the Ludovingian lion barry, also known as the "lion of Hesse", with the addition of eight mullets.
Both the civil and state flag of the German state of Saxony feature a bicolour of white over green, similar to the Austrian province of Styria although they are historically not related to each other. The state flag is similar to the civil flag, except it is defaced in the centre with the coat of arms of Saxony. The colours of both flags were officially decided as state colours in 1815. The aristocracy used mostly and in first time the quadrangular version and later the rectangular.
The Saxon Steed is a heraldic motif associated with the German provinces of Lower Saxony and Westphalia, and the Dutch region of Twente.
This gallery shows the coat of arms of each of the Dependent territories in the list of countries.
The coat of arms of Lower Silesia, and simultaneously of Silesia, shows a black eagle with silver crescent with cross in the middle on its chest on a golden background. It has been assumed in the tradition that the coat of arms and colors of Lower Silesia are simultaneously used as symbols of Silesia as a whole.
The flag that serves as the symbol of the historical and geographical regions of the Silesia, and Lower Silesia, and as one of the symbols of the Silesian people, is divided horizontally into two stripes: white on the top and yellow on the bottom. It originated as the flag of the Province of Silesia, used from 1882 to 1919, that later used as the flag of the Province of Lower Silesia, from 1920 to 1935. Currently, the flag is recognized symbol of the Silesian people in the state of Saxony in Germany.
