Flag of Bulgaria

Republic of Bulgaria
UseCivil and state flag, civil ensign Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Reverse side is congruent with obverse side
Proportion3:5
Adopted1879 (first adoption)
27 November 1990 (readoption)
DesignA horizontal tricolour of white, green and red.
Designed byStiliana Parashkevova (original version)
UseFlag using official specifications for internet use Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Reverse side is congruent with obverse side
Proportion3:5
DesignA horizontal tricolour of white, green and red.

The national flag of the Republic of Bulgaria is a tricolour consisting of three equal-sized horizontal bands of (from top to bottom) white, green, and red. The flag was first adopted after the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War, when Bulgaria gained de facto independence. The national flag at times had as a supplement the state emblem, especially during the communist era. The current flag was re-established with the 1991 Constitution of Bulgaria and was confirmed in a 1998 law.

Historical flags

First Bulgarian Empire

In 866, Pope Nicholas I advised Prince Boris who had recently Christianised his people to switch from the practice of using a horse tail as a banner to adopting the Holy Cross.

Later illuminated versions of the chronicles of John Skylitzes and Constantine Manasses depict the army of Khan Krum carrying flags either in monotone red, or red with a black border. The army of Simeon the Great is also depicted carrying red banners of varying shape. The Radziwiłł Chronicle also depicts Tzar Simeon I's army under a red flag in the 921–922 campaign against Byzantium, but the depiction of the Hungarian invasion of 894 featured the Bulgarian fortress of Drastar under a white flag with a crescent and a six-pointed star. Any pictorial representations of flags in the manuscripts mentioned above, regardless of the faction or time depicted, conform strongly to the overall illustration style used in each manuscript. In addition, none of those manuscripts dates to the time of the First Bulgarian Empire. The historicity of those flags is thus impossible to verify.

Second Bulgarian Empire

Depictions of Bulgarian flags can be seen on various portolan maps from the 14th and 15th centuries. On those maps, the flags commonly have a white or golden background and depict either the insignia of the ruling House of Shishman, or unknown symbols in red. Those drawings are markedly more diverse than the flags of the neighbouring countries such as the Eastern Roman Empire, the Golden Horde or the Serbian Empire, which in the same maps are largely consistent.

Third Bulgarian state

After the liberation of Bulgaria following the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, the flag was described in the Tarnovo Constitution of 1879 as follows:

Art. 23. The Bulgarian people's flag is three-coloured and consists of white, green and red colours, placed horizontally.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1946, the new Dimitrov Constitution of 1947 changed the flag: the colors and their order remained the same, but the new national emblem was placed on the left side of the white stripe. The new emblem contained a lion within a wreath of wheat ears below a red star and above a ribbon bearing the date 9.IХ.1944 (9 September 1944), the day of the coup d'état of 1944 which had ended the monarchy. In 1971, the emblem (and thus the flag) was slightly modified - the ribbon was parted in two, bearing the years 681 and 1944, the former being the year of the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire.

After the fall of Communism in 1990, the then-enforced Zhivkov Constitution was amended so the flag could be reverted to the pre-Communist era. The new Constitution of Bulgaria, adopted in 1991, describes the Bulgarian flag as follows:

Art. 166. The flag of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be a tricolour: white, green and red from top, placed horizontally.

A popular version of the flag, which has no official status, is also commonly known. It has the full coat of arms on the left of the flag, placed across the white and green fields only.

Flag law

According to the Law for the State Seal and National Flag of the Republic of Bulgaria, promulgated on 24 April 1998:

Art. 15. (1) The national flag of the Republic of Bulgaria is a national symbol which expresses the independence and sovereignty of the Bulgarian state.

(2) The national flag of the Republic of Bulgaria is tricolour: white, green and red fields, placed horizontally from the top downwards. On fixing the national flag in a vertical situation of the carrying body the colours shall be arranged from left to right - white, green, red.

(3) The national flag is of a rectangular shape. The fields of the individual colours shall be equal in size and shall be situated along the horizontal of the rectangular.

Colours

Appendix 2 to the Law for the State Seal and National Flag of the Republic of Bulgaria specifies colours when the flag is sewn from textiles or printed on paper.

The law does not specify what colour values should be used in digital renderings of the flag but the website of the Bulgarian civil service recommends specific RGB values for electronic applications and legacy web-safe values for websites.

Flag colours
Proportions and colours of the flag in Pantone
White Green (Digital) Red (Digital) Green (Textile) Red (Textile)
Pantone textile Whiteness greater than 80% 17-5936 TCX 18-1664 TCX
Pantone Whiteness greater than 80% 347 U 032 U
RGB Red = 255
Green = 255
Blue = 255
Hex = #FFFFFF		 Red = 0
Green = 128
Blue = 0
Hex = #009900		 Red = 200
Green = 0
Blue = 0
Hex = #CC0000		 Red = 0
Green = 150
Blue = 110
Hex = #00966E		 Red = 214
Green = 38
Blue = 18
Hex = #D62612
CMYK Cyan = 0%
Magenta = 0%
Yellow = 0%
Black = 0%		 Cyan = 100%
Magenta = 0%
Yellow = 100%
Black = 0%		 Cyan = 0%
Magenta = 100%
Yellow = 100%
Black = 0%		 Cyan = 100%
Magenta = 0%
Yellow = 26.67%
Black = 41.18%		 Cyan = 0%
Magenta = 82.24%
Yellow = 91.59%
Black = 16.18%

Flags of the Second Bulgarian Empire

Flags of the modern Bulgarian state

See also

References

  1. ↑ Whitney Smith. "Flag of Bulgaria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  2. ↑ "The Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866 (Letter 99)". Internet Medieval Sourcebook. Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies. Archived from the original on 2021-11-10. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  3. ↑ Madrid Skylitzes (PDF) (in Ancient Greek). World Digital Library. January 1100. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  4. 1 2 "Vatican copy of the Manasses Chronicle" (in Church Slavic). Vatican Library. Archived from the original on 2021-02-07. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  5. ↑ "Map Guillem Soler, c. 1380". French National Library. Archived from the original on 2019-03-23. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  6. ↑ "Map of Battista Beccario, 1426". Bavarian State Library. Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  7. ↑ "Map by Angelino Dalorto, c. 1325". Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  8. ↑ "Map by Pietro Vesconte, c.1325". Vatican Library. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  9. ↑ "Map by the Pizzigani brothers, c.1367". Archived from the original on 2021-08-31. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  10. ↑ "Tarnovo Constitution of 1879" (in Bulgarian). Juridical Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  11. ↑ "Understanding the Bulgarian Flag". Information Bulgaria. Archived from the original on 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
  12. ↑ "Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria". National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. Archived from the original on 2010-11-10. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  13. ↑ Unofficial flag Archived 2014-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, taken from 2013 Bulgaria Summer Protests Archived 2013-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, Darik News, 26 June 2013, and unofficial flag Archived 2013-06-26 at the Wayback Machine, taken from Protests in Bulgaria: the unnoticed uprising Archived 2013-06-29 at the Wayback Machine, TheConversation.com, 24 Jun 2013. Both retrieved 27 Jun 2013.
  14. ↑ "Law for the State Seal and National Flag of the Republic of Bulgaria". National Assembly of the Republic. Archived from the original on 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  15. ↑ "Lex.bg - Закони, правилници, конституция, кодекси, държавен вестник, правилници по прилагане".
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 "Знаме" [The Flag]. identity.egov.bg (in Bulgarian). Институционална идентичност на българската държавна администрация [Institutional Identity of the Bulgarian State Administration]. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  17. ↑ PANTONE. "PANTONE 17-5936 TCX Simply Green - Find a Pantone Color - Quick Online Color Tool". Pantone.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  18. ↑ PANTONE. "PANTONE 18-1664 TCX Fiery Red - Find a Pantone Color - Quick Online Color Tool". Pantone.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.