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The National flag of Armenia (Armenian Flag) was adopted on the 24th of August, 1990 by Supreme Soviet.

The Armenian Tricolor has three equal horizontal fields. Red as the top color, blue in the middle and orange on the bottom.

The national flag of Armenia

The national flag of Armenia

The flag colors are not meaningless. Let’s see what each color represents.

According to Constitution of the Republic of Armenia:

The red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people’s continued struggle for survival, maintenance of the Christian faith, Armenia’s independence and freedom. The blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. Finally, the orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia.

However, there are many different interpretations regarding the meaning of the colors. One of them is: the red color symbolizes the blood shed by the nation when defending the country. The blue color symbolizes the country’s nature and also means hope. The Orange color symbolizes the fertile land, national courage, and industriousness.

History of the Armenian Flag

Throughout its history, the Armenian Tricolor has had many variations. The ancient Armenian flag and today’s tricolor are very different and, in fact, have little to no similarities. The ancient flags had a variety of colors and demonstrated a dragon, an eagle,  sometimes also a lion or “some mysterious object of the gods”.

There were purple flags with a lion on the surface during the early Christian era.

When the Rubenian Dynasty fell, Armenians lost their independence and there was no national flag. On the other hand, it wasn’t until 1855 that the quest for a national flag began again. When some Armenian students in Paris wanted to attend Victor Hugo’s funeral under an Armenian flag, they asked Father Alishan for the true colors of the flag. He then chose the colors from the Armenian church calendar. Red is the first Sunday of Easter, Green for the second, and White completed the flag.

Later the priest changed the colors to Yellow, Red, and Green. He took these colors from the rainbow. Why rainbow?Because, as he said,  God gave the Armenian flag after the well-known flood, which is when the rainbow appeared over Noah’s Ark!

However, the government of the Independent Republic of Armenia decided to use the colors of the last Rubenian dynasty. The colors were red, blue and yellow.  Orange came right after to replace yellow. When Armenia was under Soviet control there were some changes in the flag. All these flags had Soviet emblems.

Various flags representing Armenian dynasties

Also, during the ancient times, following the adoption of Christianity, the Armenian kingdom had various flags. They represented different dynasties. Most of them had symbolic animals displayed on them.

  1. Artashessian Dynasty, 180BC-1AD
  2. The King Trdat’s flag, 301-330
  3. Marzpanate Period, 5-7th cc.
  4. Arshakuniats Dynasty, 64-428Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  5. Bagratid (Bagratuni) Kingdom 885-1045
    Bagratid (Bagratuni) Flag
  6. Mamikonian, 4-9th cc.
  7. Mamikonian, 4-9th cc.
  8. Rubinian Dynasty, 1080-1375
  9. Rubinian Dynasty, 1080-1375Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  10. Cilicia, Koricos City Flag, 14th cc.
  11. Coat of Arms, 13-14th  cc.
  12. Coat of Arms, 14th  cc.
  13. Cilician Armenia, 1198-1375Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  14. Cilician Armenia, 1198-1375
  15. Sebastia City, 14th c.
  16. Vatchutian, 14th c.
  17. Proshian, 14th c.Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  18. Israel Ori, 1658-1711
  19. Tricolor of Alishan, 1855
  20. Armenia, 1858-1914
  21. Armenia, 1885Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  22. Erivan, Coat of Arms, 1843
  23. Erivan, Coat of Arms, 1849-1918
  24. Armenia, 1914-1917
  25. Armenia, 1917-1918Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  26. Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, 1918
  27. Patriarchal Eagle, 20th c.
  28. The Armenian Republic, 1918-1920
  29. Armenian Republic Coat of Arms, 1918Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  30. Soviet Armenia, 1922
  31. SSR Armenia, 1937
  32. SSR Armenia, 1940
  33. Soviet Armenian Coat of Arms, 1937-1992Armenian Flag. Flags of various dynasties

  34. Republic of Armenia Coat of Arms, 1992
  35. Republic of Armenia, 1992

Flag and Coat of Arms of Armenia


The day of the National Flag

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In Armenia, they celebrate National Flag Day on June 15, each year. The reason behind it is that the Armenian law about the National Flag was passed on that day ( June 15, 2006). For the very first time, the National Flag day was celebrated in 2010 in Yerevan.

Similiar Flags

There are quite a few flags looking like Armenian flag.  Colombian and Venezuelan flags are among them.

The National Anthem

In addition, the National Anthem also mentions the importance of the flag:

Our fatherland, free and independent,

That lived from century to century,
His children are calling
Free independent Armenia.

Here brother, for you a flag,
That I made with my hands
Nights I didn’t sleep,
With tears, I washed it.

Look at it, 3 colors
It’s our gifted symbol.
Let it shine against the enemy.
Let Armenia always be glorious.

Everywhere death is the same
Everyone dies only once
But lucky is the one
Who is sacrificed for his nation?

Each country has its flag and, of course, they all have their own meanings. All flags have their stories respectively. And they all mean so much to their nation.

The Armenian Flag is no exception.

The national flag of Armenia is the pride of all Armenians, the symbol of their freedom. Moreover, it’s the reflection of our history full of ups and downs. Only the presence of these colors is inspiring enough to wake the patriot in our souls. It is more than just a cloth and ink, it means freedom, it’s our history and the blood of those who gave their lives defending it.

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