The Flag
The flag of the Republic of Croatia consists of three bands of red, white and blue with the coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia in the center. The length of the flag is twice its width. The bands of color are laid horizontally in the following order from the top: red, white and blue. Each color fills one-third of the width of the flag. The Croatian coat of arms is placed at the center of the flag in such manner that the upper part of the coat (the crown) extends into the red field and the lower part of the coat of arms extends into the blue field. The central point of the coat of arms is at the intersection of the diagonals of the flag.
The Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is the historical Croatian coat of arms in the shape of a shield with a checkered pattern of twenty-five alternating red and white (silver) fields, with the first field in the upper left corner of the shield being red. A five-pointed crown arches above the shield, between its upper left and upper right corners.
The crown is made of five smaller shields with historical Croatian coats of arms in the following order, from left to right:
- the oldest known Croatian coat of arms,
- coat of arms of the Dubrovnik Republic,
- coat of arms of Dalmatia,
- coat of arms of Istria and
- coat of arms of Slavonia.
The original coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is kept at the Croatian Sabor and all other coats of arms are its replicas.
The oldest known Croatian Coat of arms has a yellow (golden) six pointed star and a white (silver) moon on a blue shield.
The Coat of arms of the Dubrovnik Republic consists of two red beams on a navy blue shield.
The Dalmatian Coat of arms consists of three yellow (golden) crowned leopard heads on a blue shield.
The Istrian Coat of arms consists of a yellow (golden) goat facing left with red hoofs and horns, on a navy blue shield.
The Slavonian Coat of arms consists of two horizontal white (silver) beams on a blue shield and a red field between the beams with a marten in motion facing left. There is a yellow (golden) six pointed star in the upper blue field. The entire coat of arms is trimmed by a red line.
The Croatian Coat of arms was shown for the first time on a genealogy of the Habsburgs around 1512/1518. It is believed that this coat of arms appeared even earlier. It is also found on a remembrance thaler from 1525 and in the official seal of the Croatian Parliament elected in Cetin, from 1 January 1527 when Ferdinand I was elected King of Croatia.
The National Anthem
The national anthem of the Republic of Croatia is "Our Beautiful Homeland". Lyrics were written by Antun Mihanović.
It was published for the first time in Danica in 1835 under the title "Croatian Homeland". In 1846 Josip Runjanin, a military cadet in Glina, set the lyrics to music. His tune was allegedly first harmonized and transcribed by V. Lichtenegger in 1861.
Entitled "Our Beautiful", it was first performed as the Croatian national anthem in 1891 during the exhibition of the Croatian-Slavonian Economic Association in Zagreb.
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