Red. White. Blue. Those three colors make up the Croatian national flag. In the middle of the equally sized stripes, is the Coat of Arms of Croatia. The Croatian flag has always had the same colors, the Pan Slavic ones only the coat of arms was replaced by a star while Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia. The tricolor flag has been in use since 1848 while the national flag, the one we know now, was adopted in December, 1990.
The President’s flag is a blue square with the president’s coat of arms. The flag is bordered with a thin line of red and white fields. The coat of arms is made up of 25 red and white fields (13 red and 12 white) surrounded by 5 shields of Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria, Dubrovnik and the oldest Croatian coat of arms. Two more details appearing on the president’s flag are the thrums hanging down from the shields and the banner above the coat of arms with golden letters saying RH.
The coat of arms of Croatia consists of one main shield with 25 red and white (13 red and 12 white) fields and 5 small shields forming a crown. At first sight it looks like a chessboard with black fields replaced by the red ones.
It is called Šahovnica. 5 small shields that form a crown represent different regions of Croatia. The regions that appear on the coat of arms are:
a six-pointed yellow star above a silver moon symbolize the oldest Croatian coat of arms
two red horizontal stripes on a blue background symbolize Republic of Dubrovnik
three golden crowned leopards symbolize Dalmatia
a golden goat with red horns symbolizes Istria
a marten on a red field, bordered with two white (silver) stripes and a six-pointed yellow star above symbolize Slavonia
Today’s design, the one we described here, was adopted in December, 1990.