Flag of Montenegro
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| Use | National flag and ensign |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | July 13, 2004 |
| Design | Red with the national coat of arms in the middle and with a golden border. The ratio of the flag is two to one. The coat of arms in the flag occupies 2/3 of its height. The midpoint of the coat of arms matches the intersection point of the diagonals of the flag. The width of the golden border is 1/20 of the shorter flag edge. |
The Flag of Montenegro (Serbo-Croatian/Montenegrin: Застава Црне Горе / Zastava Crne Gore) was officailly adopted with the Law on the state symbols and the statehood day of Montenegro on 13 July 2004. It was yet again sanctioned by the new Constitution on its proclamation day of 22 October 2007. It is a red banner with broader golden edges all around the red field with the Coat of arms of Montenegro in its center.
The Law on the state symbols and the statehood day of Montenegro reached full effect the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro. The publication occurred 12 July 2004 and the legal power of the Law occurred day after, on 13 July 2004 - The statehood day of Montenegro.
The Republic flag is also the flag of the Army of Montenegro.
Description
The flag of Montenegro is red, with the coat of arms in the middle, and golden borders. The ratio of the flag is 1:2. The coat of arms takes 2/3 of the flag's height. The middle point of the coat of arms matches the middle point of the flag. The width of the border is 1/20 of the flag's proportions. There exist two versions of the Montenegrin flag, horizontal, mostly used outdoor; and vertical, mostly used indoor.
Use of flag
The flag is permanently hoisted on: 1) the building of the Parliament of Montenegro; 2) the buildings in which are official premises of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the High Court, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme State Attorney and the Human Rights Ombudsman; 3) on the residence of the President of Montenegro.
The flag is hoisted: 1) on the statehood day of Montenegro and in days of other state holidays of Montenegro, on buildings in which are seated state bodies and bodies of the local self-management; 2) on the buildings of the representations of Montenegro abroad; 3) on aircraft, ships and other vessels according to special regulations; 4) on voting sites during elections and referendums; 5) on the mourning days determined by the Government, half-masted.
Also flag may be hoisted during international meetings, political, scientific, cultural, artistic, sporting and other manifestations in which Montenegro is represented, according to the rules of such events; during celebrations, festivities, sporting and other manifestations, etc.
When hoisted in Montenegro together with one or more flags of other states or international organizations the flag takes the place of honor. The place of honor is considered the center of a circle, the top of a semicircle, the first place in a row, column or a group of flags, the central position between the flags and the left side as seen from the front from the flags of other states or international organizations.
The flag is risen, lowered, hoisted, taken down and carried with the usual honors (standing up, saluting etc.) The flag can not be hoisted so as to touch the ground, nor should be used as a table cloth, curtain or similar.
Historical
The oldest symbol on Montenegrin flags is the Christian Cross. It was used in the Great Turkish War, the first time actually recorded being in 1687. It symbolized the old Montenegrin motto "For Honored Cross and Golden Freedom", which characterized the traditional Christian desire to fight against the occupier of foreign religion, i.e. the Muslim Ottoman Empire, during the time when in the 17th and 18th centuries ages of battling the Turks turned into a liberation war of Montenegro. The emergence of the Cross on banners was typically occurred from the Middle Ages in Christian states that were bound by religious conflict with the Muslim world since the Crusades. It was used by the Serbian forces in the 1389 Battle of Amsfeld, worn by the legendary Jugović brothers from Zeta. After the total defeat the "alaj-barjak" (алај-барјак, a version of the name that appeared due to Turkization) was taken to Montenegro which housed numerous refugees from Ottoman onslaught, keeping it safe for centuries. It was used by the Serbs during the late rebellions against the Turkish Empire.
In 1768 in the chains of Ostrog the Ottomans captured a banner of the self-proclaimed Montenegrin Emperor Stephen the Little. It was on a stick with a cross, white with bordered by red.
A banner of the Cetinje Metropolitanate is established in the 19th century, light (mostly white) with a dark (mostly red) cross. In the early 1850s it is recorded for being used in the Cetinje Monastary and Njegoš's Biljarda. While it represented secular but religious rule of the Montenegrin Prince-Bishops, individual Serb clans used a variation of the stag, with averted colors - the white cross on a red background. This is a result of historical improvisation, they were created mostly from captured Ottoman flags, whose colors corresponded to such a necessity.
When Danil became Prince-Bishop he inherited the Banner used as a state, sovereign and military stag. He officially secularized Montenegro as a Princedom in 1852 and conducted military reforms of the Montenegrin armed forces. He thus created a new flag: a tricolor with a Red Cross. But in 1858 he designed for Montenegro two flags one military and another as national. For a state flag, Danil ordered the craftsmen from Kotor, Bocca to enact a Slavic tricolor for him. All Slavic nations traditionally used the tricolor, impressed by the French Revolution that promoted civic rights and freedom. The tricolor was officially put for the first time in 1860. According to domestic interpretations Red meant Mercy, Blue was Faith and White Hope. Although several different variations of the tricolor was used, the Serbian tricolor was picked in 1859. In 1876 a Flag of Montenegro was ceremonially picked as a Serb flag with Nicholas' Coat of Arms. It became the sole one used since Montenegro's recognition of independence in 1878 in the Congress of Berlin. The Serb tricolor's mass usage that replaced all other flags starting in the 1880s under Prince Nicholas Petrovic-Njegos.
The krstaš-barjak, red version with a white cross and border, was in the 19th century fully implemented as the oldest martial flag. Some had the rulers' insignia in the cross. Prince Danil conducted military reforms in the 1850s and since then the banner signifying a centurian unit of 100 men. For the largest unit, a "Guard" numbering 1000 men, he created a new flag - red with the white double-headed eagle and his insignia (ДI as "Danilo the First") on it. As his personal banner, he added the traditionally used biblical golden lion beneath the eagle, henceforth known as the "alaj-barjak". Ever since then the "alaj-barjak" was the established name for red with the bicephalic eagle, to differ from the "krstaš-barjak".
In 1871 Prince Nicholas conducted a reform of the Montenegrin Army, introducing squadrons, battalions and brigades. The squadron stag used the krstaš, while the Battalion and Brigade stags used the alaj - the only difference being in quality. Nicholas' personal banner was almost identical to the Brigade one. The old military flags were continued to be used, however Danil's insignia was replaced with his own. These military banners were used during family and funeral rituals, so their public use was explicitly banned.
in 1879 with Montenegro's formal recognition of independence, the Montenegrin navy was founded and a Naval-trading flag created. It was a Red-White-Red Dalmatian tricolor, due to the fact that Montenegro was bound by the Congress of Berlin to obey Austrian laws, but with the Cross in the upper left angle. It was subsequently redesigned in 1880 to signify distinction from Austro-Hungary, and the colors were changed to national traditional Red-Blue-White. However the entire Montenegrin navy were by old vessels from Ulcinj, with most of the men being Muslims, who were continually discontent due to the Christian symbol on their flag. So, in 1881 the final version was adopted. The Cross was removed and Nicholas' initials added in the center, with an Islamic-style crown on top of them to satisfy the crew.
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When the Constitution of the Montenegrin Princedom was adopted in 1905, it proclaimed the Red-Light_Blue-White tricolor as the very first official state flag in article 39. The reason for this was that the Kingdom of Serbia already used the standard tricolor, and flags of two independent countries should never be identical. According to tales, the tricolor stood at the sun and the Blue faded becoming light - and when Nicholas I liked it so he decided to keep it. Nicholas also enacted laws on public use of the state flag. In 1906 the Legal Code for Princedom of Montenegro was adopted. In article 328 it set the penalty of 20 days of imprisonment or 100 crowns if the State Flag was used by an unauthorized body on any occasion other than national parades, feasts and celebrations. The standard tricolor was mass-used by the people freely, and was even used by the administrative bodies more frequently. Nikola introduced a Court Flag for his family and the governing administrative body of Montenegro, which was recorded for the first time in 1897. It was the standard tricolor with the Nicholas' two-headed eagle and/or the biblical Lion. The Sovereign also had his personal standard - the tricolor with his coat-of-arms and his initials on it.
In 1910 Montenegro became a Kingdom and both the court flag and the royal standard were altered. The Court flag just replaced the crown with a Regal one, while the standard became the Montenegrin State tricolor with the crown and Nicholas' initials below it. Back then the simplification of the regent's standard was standard practice.
In 1916 the Kingdom of Montenegro was occupied by the Central Powers during the First World War. On 26 April 1917 they banned all tricolors because the Serbian Army still fought on the Balkan Front, and allowed the Military Banner and Austrian, Hungarian, Croatian and Albanian national flags to be used in occupied Montenegro. Similarly, when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded in April 1941 by the Axis forces, a puppet Kingdom of Montenegro was created. This "Independent State of Montenegro" originally firstly returned the State tricolor, but the new flag that was subsequently proclaimed by the Italian occupiers in July was Nicholas' war flag. It was used for the most of its time, i.e. until 1944.
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On 31 November 1946 a new flag of the People's Republic of Montenegro, a constituent republic of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was adopted. It returned the traditional tricolor adding an ideological Communist Red Star to its center. This flag was used until 1991 when the Red Star was removed, but the Montenegrin flag was identical to the other Republic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia, so in 1993 the old flag from 1905 was returned, but differently sized.
Gallery of State flags
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Republic of Montenegro (1993-2004.07) -
People's/Socialist Republic of Montenegro (1946-1991/93) -
Princedom/Kingdom of Montenegro (1905-1918), also people's flag of that age -
Montenegrin flag (from 1876-1905)[citation needed]
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Notes
- Just after adopting the flag, in transitional period of 60 days size of golden eagle was 1:3 of the flags' size, instead of 2:3.
- The symbols were originally adopted in 2004 by the ruling coalition (DPS-SDP) on a extraordinary session of the parliament on the proposal of Socialdemocratic Party of Montenegro[citation needed], without presence of the opposition.
- It was criticized by opposition for being non-vexilologic, originating only partially from the old military flags of Montenegro. The ruling coalition adopted it during campaign for an independent Montenegro, which was then a part of a state union with Serbia, having a tricolor similar to the Serbian for its flag.[1]
- The biggest Montenegrin flag was made for fans for first Montenegrin football international match versus Hungary on March 24 2007.
Trivia
- In video game Europa Universalis III, first real time strategy game where Montenegro is playable faction, since 13 century is used flag similar to present, but without crown and golden boarders.
See also
References
- ^ Crnogorske zastave, Jovan B. Markuš
External links
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| National coats of arms | |
![Montenegrin flag (from 1876-1905)[citation needed]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Upload?wpDestFile=Old_Flag_of_Montenegro.png){kind=link}