The flag is one of the main official symbols of the country along with the coat of arms and anthem. Interestingly, the age of the flag of Georgia is very impressive: the Georgian state has been using its flag since the XIII century! Therefore, the Georgian flag is one of the oldest in the world. It looks like this: the canvas has a white color, in the middle - a large red cross, at the corners - of the same size red small crosses.
The crosses on the flag of Georgia are a common Christian symbol, which is the personification of Jesus Christ and his four evangelical followers. White color means innocence, wisdom, purity, red - a symbol of courage, courage, love, justice.
Let's turn to history
Today's flag was finally adopted in 2004, for which a special "Flag Law" was created. Before that, it was used by the United National Movement, led by Mikheil Saakashvili.
Researchers noted that five crosses were found in the ruins of the Necres Church, on the church facades. All these buildings date back to different, but far from us times: VI, X-XI, XIII-XIV centuries. It is assumed that the Georgian king Vakhtang Gorgasal used in the V century a white flag, which depicts the red cross of St. George. There is evidence that the flag with a dark red cross and a star in a white field was used by Queen Tamara.
The maps of the Pizzigani brothers, dating from 1367, contain the designation of Tiflis - the Jerusalem Cross. According to the Georgian historian Kldiashvili, such a cross was adopted at a time when George the Brilliant reigned.
Historical flags
In 1762, as a result of the emergence of the Kartli-Kakheti kingdom by combining the two East Georgian states (Kartli and Kakheti), the flag was a black cloth on which a straight cross of white color was depicted.
In the summer of 1918, the Transcaucasian Sejm was dissolved, after which the independence of Georgia was declared. Then the flag of dark red shade with an insert of two stripes - black and white - was raised. This variation of red (dogwood color) is a symbol of the bright past of the people, joyful feelings. The black stripe marks a period tragic for Georgia: then the country was ruled by the Russians. The white stripe symbolizes hope and national development. This flag was first raised publicly in March 1917 during a rally of the Georgian National Democratic Party.
Flags in Soviet times
The existence of the Georgian Democratic Republic was short-lived.
In 1921, the Soviet army was introduced into Georgia, and a year later a new flag appeared - a red canvas, on which "SSRG" was written on top, then this inscription was made in Georgian. In 1940, the Supreme Soviet of Georgia adopted the new flag of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, and "USSR" was displayed in Georgian letters. In April 1951, a new flag was adopted: again a red cloth, a blue stripe was drawn on top, a blue square was placed on the left in the upper corner, in the middle of which a circle with a red sickle and hammer, over which a five-pointed star and 24 rays of red color were depicted. By the way, on the flags of other countries of the USSR, the hammer and sickle were gold in color and only on the flag of Georgia they were red.
1990 to 2004
In November 1990, the Supreme Soviet decided to return the flag of the Georgian Democratic Republic of the 20s of the XX century. It was red with black and white stripes. The ratio of width and length is 3:5. Each stripe was 1/5 wide of the width of the entire flag, and the length was 2/5 of the entire width.
