FLAG OF SLOVENIA: HISTORY AND MEANING - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The flag of Slovenia is the main national symbol of this nation, a member of the European Union. Like the flags of its neighboring countries, it is made up of the Pan-Slavic colors and the National Shield. The flag is divided into three horizontal stripes of equal size: from top to bottom they are white, blue and red.

At the top left, between the white and blue stripes, is the Slovenian national coat of arms, which distinguishes it from other flags. Although the colors of the Slovenian flag are Pan-Slavic, its origin is medieval. This is so because they were the colors of the extinct Duchy of Carniola.

Its colors were also used by Yugoslavia, a country to which Slovenia belonged until 1991. The creation of the Slovenian flag is recent, because it was adopted on June 25, 1991. This is because Slovenia belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

After independence the new national symbols were instituted, respecting the tradition of color. The Slovenian national flag and the naval ensign have a wide 1: 2 ratio. In contrast, the civil pavilion has dimensions of 2: 3. Neither of these have variations in design and both have the crest.

History

The origins of the Slovenian flag date back to the revolutions of 1848. During these political movements, the flag was raised for the first time in the Pan-Slavic colors. The capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, was the setting where it was hoisted, in a building between Congress Square and Prešeren Square.

Those in charge of the pavilion were the followers of the conservative poet and activist Lovro Toman. The fact of the hoisting generated the wrath of the Germans, although the Austrian government recognized the creation of the Duchy of Carniola.

The flag also implied a cession, since since the monarchy it was imposed that all flags had to be bicolor, with the sole exception of Croatia.

By exceeding the norm of two-color flags, the tricolor was imposed as the symbol of recognition of a unified Slovenia. This sentiment grew in the second half of the 19th century.

Flag inside Yugoslavia

The end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not bring independence for Slovenia but its union in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which would be called the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

This country later incorporated Serbia and Montenegro. The Yugoslav flag had the same colors as the Slovenian, but in a different order: blue, white, and red.

However, the tricolor flag continued to represent Slovenia within Yugoslavia. In World War II the pavilion was used by communist partisans, with a star in the middle. It was also used by the Slovenian National Guard, a pro-Nazi anti-communist militia.

After the war, Yugoslavia became a country in the Soviet orbit. Thus, in 1945 the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was officially established.

The Slovenian flag was the 1848 tricolor, but with a red star with a yellow border in the middle, between the three stripes. It was the first time that a Slovenian flag was officially established.

Independent Slovenia

Yugoslavia was dissolved in 1991 and the Balkan War quickly broke out. Slovenia became independent very early and was exempt from this conflict; then, the country began to look for its new national symbols.

On June 27, 1991 the new flag was established. It has the three known stripes and a new shield, designed by artist Marko Pogačnik, after a long controversy.

Meaning

The Pan-Slavic colors are those that make up the Slovenian flag. The conformation of these has different theories, but a common aspect.

In Bohemia and Czechoslovakia there was a flag that was only white and red. To this was added blue, which made up the Pan-Slavic colors, taken by Toman.

Today the Czech Republic, Serbia, Russia and Slovakia also use the same colors. Even Russia and Slovakia have the same flags as the Slovenian and are differentiated by the shield.

Shield Meaning

The National Shield was designed by Marko Pogačnik, who took elements of the old Slovenian shield in Yugoslavia and adapted them. This shield is part of the flag and is on its left side. It is centered on the exact half of the white and blue stripes.

Its components, unlike the Pan-Slavic colors, are full of meaning. In the middle is a drawing of the highest point in Slovenia: Mount Triglav.

The drawing of the mountain has three peaks, it is white and symbolizes the prominent mountains of the country. For Pogačnik, this represents the masculine principle.

At the bottom of the mountains are two blue wavy lines. One represents the Adriatic Sea and the other the country's rivers. This would be the feminine principle.

Inside the upper part of the shield, on the blue background, there are three yellow six-pointed stars, placed two at the top and one in the middle, at the bottom.

The significance of the stars is transferred to the symbol of the ancient counts of Celje. The author argues that these three stars represent democracy. The yellow color is the only one that transgresses the Pan-Slavs.

Proposals for change

Given the similarity of the Slovenian flag with that of its neighboring Slovakia, various proposals for change have been presented. In 2003 a campaign was carried out with several proposals.

Five stood out. Three of these tried to put the stripes of the flag vertically, in the same order. In one proposal, the size and position of the shield was maintained, in the white strip.

Another only extracted Mount Taglev and the two blue lines, to place them in the middle of the blue, white stripe. The other alternative was without a shield.

Among the proposals also stood out one that divided the flag into three diagonal stripes. The white one occupied half and had the shield; meanwhile, the other two divided the other half.

Finally, the winning project was an eleven-striped flag. In this, the white and blue stripes alternate in the first half, and the white and red stripes in the second half. In the central part four triangles are formed: three upwards and one downwards.

Despite these initiatives, no definitive proposals for change have been made. Mainly, this is because the flag has the support of the population.

European union flag

Slovenia has been a member country of the European Union since 2004. It is common for the countries that make up this supranational organization to use, together with their flag, the European one.

The flag of the European Union is blue and has a wheel of twelve yellow stars; these are not related to the number of member states. It is frequent that this flag accompanies the Slovenian one in the different dependencies where it is raised.

References

1. Arias, E. (2006). Flags of the world. Editorial Gente Nueva: Havana, Cuba.
2. Kaneva, N. (2011). Branding post-communist nations: Marketizing national identities in the “new” Europe (Vol. 33). Routledge: New York, United States and London, United Kingdom.
3. National Assembly of Slovenia. (sf). National symbols. Državni zbor. Recovered from dz-rs.si.
4. Pogačnik, M (2003). Slovene National Symbols - The Slovene Coat of Arms. Ljudmila. Recovered from ljudmila.org.
5. Smith, W. (2013). Flag of Slovenia. Encyclopædia Britannica. Recovered from britannica.com.