The national flag of Poland ( ) consists of two horizontal stripes of equal width, the upper one white and the lower one red. The two colours are defined in the Polish constitution as the national colours. A variant of the flag with the national coat of arms in the middle of the white fess is legally reserved for official use abroad and at sea. A similar flag with the addition of a white eagle is used as the naval ensign of Poland.

White and red were officially adopted as national colours in 1831, although these were associated with Poland since the Middle Ages and were emphasized on royal banners. They are of heraldic origin and derive from the tinctures (colours) of the coats of arms of the two constituent nations of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (i.e., the White Eagle of Poland, and the Pursuer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a white knight riding a white horse), both on a red shield. The flag was one of the only three flags of a socialist country in Europe without its coat of arms in the center.

Until 1831, Polish soldiers wore cockades of various colour combinations. The national flag was officially adopted in 1919. Since 2004, Polish Flag Day has been celebrated on 2 May.

The flag is flown continuously on the buildings of the highest national authorities, such as the parliament and the presidential palace. Other institutions and many Polish people fly the national flag on national holidays and other special occasions of national significance. Current Polish law does not restrict the use of the national flag without the coat of arms, as long as the flag is not disrespected.

Horizontal bicolours of white and red being a relatively widespread design, several flags are similar but unrelated to the Polish one. Two national flags (Indonesia and Monaco) have the red stripe above the white one. In Poland, many flags based on the national design also feature the national colours.

It is one of five flags that use the 5:8 ratio. The other four flags include those of Argentina, Guatemala, Palau, and Sweden.

Design

left|upright|thumb|Horizontal and vertical display of the colours of the Republic of Poland

The colours and flags of the Republic of Poland are described in two legal documents: the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 and the Coat of Arms, Colours and Anthem of the Republic of Poland and State Seals Act () of 1980 with subsequent amendments (henceforth referred to as "the Coat of Arms Act").

Legislation concerning the national symbols is far from perfect. The Coat of Arms Act has been amended several times and refers extensively to executive ordinances, some of which have never been issued. Moreover, the Act contains errors, omissions and inconsistencies which make the law confusing, open to various interpretations and often not followed in practice.

National colours

{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin:0 1em;"

|+ <small>Statutory coordinates of Polish national colours in the CIE xyY colour space with the tolerated colour differences in CIELUV

Usage

Right and obligation to fly the flag

Per Polish law, treating the national symbols, including the flag, "with reverence and respect" is the "right and obligation" of every Polish citizen and all state organs, institutions and organisations. Official statistics show that crimes against national symbols are rare: 43 such crimes in 2003 and 96 in 2004 were less than 0.001% of all crimes registered in Poland in those years.

According to the Coat of Arms Act, everyone can use the Polish flag, especially during national and cultural events, as long as it is done in a respectful manner.

thumb|Flag without the coat of arms

That restriction and kind of state monopoly on the use of national symbols during the Communist regime made flying the Polish flag a symbol of resistance against the government. It became customary, as it still is, for workers to hoist Polish flags on plant buildings when going on strike. Hence, the Polish flag, as a symbol of patriotism and resistance against Communist rule, is part of the Solidarity trade union logo.

Flag without coat of arms

thumb

The following institutions are required by law to fly the national flag without coat of arms either on top or in front of their official buildings:

  • the Sejm (lower house of parliament);
  • the Senat (upper house of parliament);
  • the President of the Republic;
  • the Council of Ministers (cabinet) and the President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister);
  • Voivodeship sejmiks (provincial legislatures);
  • other state and local government organs.

Additionally, the national flag without coat of arms is used as an ensign for inland navigation.

Flag flying days

right|thumb|The Polish, [[Flag of Vatican City|Papal (yellow and white) and Municipal (white and blue) flags in Kraków's Grand Square during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Poland on 27 May 2006]]

State and local government organs are legally required, and other institutions and organisations as well as all citizens are encouraged to fly the Polish flag on the following days:

  • 1 May – State Holiday (May Day, formerly Labor Day);
  • 2 May – Polish National Flag Day;
  • 3 May – Constitution Day (along with Polish National Flag Day);
  • 11 November – Independence Day. and during an official visit of a particularly important person, especially a pope, in Poland. During a pope's visit, the national flag is usually flown together with yellow and white Church flags, and white and blue Marian flags. It is uncommon to fly the national flag on personal occasions, such as birthdays or weddings.

Traditionally, the national flag is reserved to serve either informative or festive purposes. A single specimen of the flag on or in front of a public office building indicates its official role. Multiple flags, on the other hand, are normally used to decorate both public and private buildings to mark special occasions, such as national holidays.

In the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), a banner of the Commonwealth was also used, combining the heraldic symbols of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Commonwealth banner was initially plain white emblazoned with the arms of the Commonwealth which consisted of the heraldic charges of Poland (White Eagle) and Lithuania (Pursuer). Since both Polish and Lithuanian coats of arms consisted of white (Argent) charges in a red (Gules) field, these two colours started to be used for the entire banner. During the 17th century, the banner was usually divided into two, three or four horizontal, often swallow-tailed, stripes of red and white.

National cockade

thumb|left|A woman fastening a red-and-white [[cockade to a Polish insurgent's square-shaped rogatywka cap during the January Uprising of 1863–1864]]

In the 18th and 19th centuries, European nations used cockades, or knots of coloured ribbons pinned to the hat, to denote the nationality of their military. In Poland, until 1831, there was no consensus as to what the colours of the national cockade should be. Polish soldiers wore white, white-and-red, blue-and-red or blue-white-red cockades. In that period, Poland was one of the few socialist states in the Eastern Bloc (apart from the flag of Cuba and Laos) not to adorn communist symbolism on its flag.

thumb|upright|A frayed Polish flag during the final days of the [[Warsaw Uprising of 1944]]

thumb|upright|Polish flag in Berlin on 2 May 1945

20th-century Polish insurgents wore white-and-red brassards (armbands) which played a role similar to the cockade of previous centuries. Such armbands were worn by Polish freedom fighters during the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919) and Silesian Uprisings (1919–1921), as well as during the Second World War (1939–1945) by the soldiers of the Home Army (AK) and Peasants' Battalions (BCh) – usually emblazoned with the acronyms of their formations.

The pamphlet was not, however, an official source of law and was published for informative purpose only. The shade of red was first legally specified by a presidential decree of 13 December 1927 which stipulated that the official shade was vermilion. This specification was upheld by a decree of 7 December 1955.

bringing the resulting hue closer to crimson again.

Spaceflight

The flag of Poland has been taken to space on two occasions during crewed spaceflight. The first time was in June 1978, aboard the Soyuz 30, when Mirosław Hermaszewski (a Polish cosmonaut of the 1976 Interkosmos Group and the first Pole in space) docked with the Soviet orbital station Salyut 6 and spent over a week in orbit with a small Polish flag attached to his spacesuit. The same flag was taken back to space again almost 47 years later, in June 2025, when ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski became the second Polish national to reach orbital flight. One of the items Uznański-Wiśniewski took with him aboard the Crew Dragon Grace that carried Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station was the same flag from Hermaszewski's spacesuit. This also marked Poland's first mission to the ISS and the first time that the Polish flag appeared on that space station.

The flag of the Grand Duchy of Posen, a Polish-populated autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia created in 1815, was a red-and-white horizontal bicolour. Its colours were taken from the duchy's coat of arms which consisted of the Prussian Black Eagle with an inescutcheon of the Polish White Eagle. With Germany's increasingly anti-Polish policy and a rising identification of white and red as Polish national colours, the red-and-white flag of Posen was replaced in 1886 with a white-black-white horizontal triband.

Today, many flags used in Poland are based on the design of the national flag. This applies especially to flags defined by Polish law and used by the Polish military and other uniformed services, such as the naval ensign – a swallow-tailed horizontal bicolour of white and red defaced with the arms of Poland in the white stripe. Flags of some administrative subdivisions also resemble the national flag. Examples include the former flag of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship – a horizontal bicolour of white and red defaced with the arms of the voivodeship – or the flag of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship – a horizontal tricolour of white, yellow and red with the yellow stripe half as wide as any of the other two.

See also

  • List of Polish flags
  • List of Polish naval and maritime flags
  • Flag of Indonesia, same colors and size but inverted
  • Flag of Thuringia, same colors but different size
  • Countryballs, originated with the Polish flag

Notes

References

Citations

thumb|The largest Polish flag flying from the Freedom Mast in Warsaw, which, at , is Poland's tallest flag pole

Sources

Books

; Law

Official documents

  • Projekt ustawy o zmianie ustawy o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Druk 2149, Warsaw, 15 October 2003

News

Web

  • Flags of the World – subpages: