Flag of Kaliningrad Oblast explained

The flag of the exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast is a rectangle with a ratio of 2:3 divided into three horizontal stripes. The upper stripe is red, a thin (1/3 of the upper strip) yellow stripe in the middle and a dark blue stripe of the same size as the red bar. In the canton is a silver-and-black stylized medieval castle with open gates and the monogram of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (under which reign parts of the region were shortly under Russian control during the Seven Years' War).

The law does not state what the colours stand for. In the Russian press[1] it was stated that the silver fortress with open gates stands for hospitality, the dark blue for the Baltic Sea and tranquility, the yellow for the wealth of amber and the red for active man principle ("цвет активного мужского начала"). (Other sources state that red stands for the bellicose past of Prussia, the Red Army, the Hanseatic League, or the historical connections with Brandenburg and Poland.)

The law about the flag and the coat of arms went into effect on 9 June 2006. Previously this westernmost Russian region had no flag. When plans were made to adopt a flag another proposal was a tricolour with 3 horizontal stripes in green, white and dark blue[2] similar to the flag of Sierra Leone. Another proposal was similar to the flag of Scotland, but with a yellow St. Andrew's Cross.[3]

Flags

Other flags

!Flag!Date!Use!Description
1996–presentFlag of Kaliningrad cityA coat of arms in front of a ship on an all blue background.
?–presentFlag of Baltiysk
October 2016–presentFlag of Pionersky
January 2016–October 2016Plain white flag with the embem on the middle.
?–January 2016Plain white flag with the embem on the middle.
?–presentFlag of Svetlogorsk
?–presentFlag of Sovetsk
?–presentFlag of Bagrationovsky District
?–presentFlag of Ladushkin
?–presentFlag of Gvardeysky District
2017–presentFlag of Guryevsky District
?–2017
2005–presentFlag of Gusevsky District
?–2005
?–presentFlag of Zelenogradsky District
?–presentFlag of Krasnoznamensky District
?–presentFlag of Nemansky District
?–presentFlag of Ozyorsky District
?–presentFlag of Ozyorsky District
?–presentFlag of Pravdinsky District
?–presentFlag of Slavsky District
?–presentFlag of Chernyakhovsky District

Notes

  1. http://geraldika.ru/symbols/15129 geraldika.ru 11 May 2006 New versions of coat of arms and flag of Kaliningrad Oblast region are presented
  2. Web site: Komersant, Kaliningrad Regions . 2008-05-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080411234504/http://www.kommersant.com/t-43/r_5/n_386/Kaliningrad_Region/ . 2008-04-11 . dead .
  3. http://geraldika.ru/symbols/3160 geraldika.ru Projects of coat of arms and flag of Kaliningrad region

External links