Armenia Flag

The Armenian Supreme Soviet officially adopted their flag of length to width ratio 1:2 on August 24, 1990. The Armenian flag consists of a horizontal equal-width tricolor of red, blue, and orange (color of apricot) bands on top, center, and bottom respectively. The Armenian name of the flag loosely translates to “the Tricolor,” however, internationally, the flag’s name is “the National Flag of Armenia.”

The Armenian constitution states that the red color is a symbol of the Armenian Highland, the country’s independence, freedom, and continued struggle for survival as well as the maintenance of the country’s faith in Christianity. The color blue represents Armenians’ will to live under the nation’s blue skies and orange represents the creativity, talent, and hard-working nature of Armenians. Unofficial interpretations among Armenians include red for the 1.5 million people who died in the Armenian Genocide, blue for the sky, and orange for courage.

Stepanos Sargsi Malkhasyants, an Armenian academician, linguist, lexicographer, and philologist designed and interpreted the current colors of the Armenian flag during the period of the First Republic of Armenia. However, the Armenian National Council used red, blue, and yellow colors before replacing the yellow with orange in a short period while maintaining the ratio of 2:3. The respected Malkhasyants offered his design after the council rejected another design called Rainbow Flag.

The Alishan’s design of 1885 had horizontal red, green, and white bands with the whole flag being of ratio 1:2. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Armenian Diaspora adopted a flag with red, green, and blue vertical bands representing the rainbow that Noah saw on Mount Ararat. After the fall of the Russian Empire, Russian Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan formed the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic using a flag with yellow, black and red horizontal bands. The first Republic of Armenia used their current flag but with a ratio of 2:3. Between 1922 and 1936, Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic that had a red background with the Soviet hammer and Sickle inserted inside a five-point star. The initials "ЗСФСР" (ZSFSR) cycled the star that forms an inverted “C” shape. Between 1952 to 1990, Armenia used a red flag with a thin blue horizontal band and the hammer, sickle, and star on the top left corner.