Flag of Serbia
 Official flag, ratio: 2:3 |
The flag of Serbia is a tricolour with Pan-Slavic colors. It consists of three equal horizontal fields, red on the top, blue in the middle and white on the bottom. The official flag has small Coat of Arms of Serbia centered vertically and placed at 1/3[citation needed] of the width horizontally. For public use, the variant without the coat of arms is permitted. The current form of the flag was officially adopted on August 16 2004.
The flag ratio is 2:3 (height/width), with the three colors each taking one third of the height. Previous official versions of the flag (Socialist Republic of Serbia and subsequent flag used 1991-2004) used 1:2 ratio.
The exact colors, starting from the top, are:
- Red, Pantone 193u, CMYK 0-100-66-13, RGB 191-74-88
- Blue, Pantone 293u, CMYK 100-57-0-2, RGB 63-89-168
- White, CMYK 0-0-0-0, RGB 255-255-255
 For public use, ratio: 2:3 |
Contents |
History
The flag is a reversed flag of Russia, which is not coincidental. Prior to the First Serbian Uprising, a delegation from Serbia went to Russia to seek help[citation needed]. The help was granted, and the delegation wanted to show their acknowledgement by asking to use the Russian flag as Serbia's military flag in battles. There are two accounts of this event: one says that approval was granted, but that the delegation didn't bring a Russian flag when returning home and forgot how the colors were ordered. The second one says that approval was not granted and Serbs then used the reversed Russian flag to spite the Russians.
Adaptations
An earlier version of the flag of Montenegro had been adopted from the Serbian flag, but with a different hue of blue and different internal dimensions.
Republika Srpska (a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) uses the same flag without coat of arms.
The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Serbian flag in a 1:4 or higher ratio embossed with the Serbian cross.
Former flags
