Flag of Estonia

The national flag of Estonia is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white. The normal size is 105 × 165 cm. In Estonian it is colloquially called the "sinimustvalge" (literally "blue-black-white") , after the colours of the bands.

It first came to prominence in the 1880s as the flag of the Estonian University Student Association at the University of Tartu and was consecrated in the hall of the pastorate of Otepää on 4 June 1884. It subsequently became associated with Estonian nationalism and was used as the national flag (riigilipp) when Estonia was declared an independent nation on 24 February 1918, formally adopting the flag on 21 November 1918.

The invasion by the Soviet Union in June 1940 led to the flag being banned. It was taken down from the most symbolic location, the tower of Pikk Hermann in Tallinn, on 21 June 1940 when Estonia was still, at least formally, independent. On the next day, 22 June, it was hoisted along with the red flag. The tricolour disappeared completely from the tower on 27 July 1940 and was replaced by the flag of Estonian SSR.

During the German occupation 1941–1944 the flag was accepted as the ethnic flag of Estonians but not the national flag. After the German retreat from Tallinn in September 1944, the Estonian flag was hoisted once again. When the Red Army arrived on 22 September, the red flag was first just added. Soon afterwards the blue-black-white flag disappeared.

The flag remained illegal until the days of perestroika in the late 1980s when on 24 February 1989 the blue-black-white flag was again flown from the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn. It was formally re-declared as the national flag on 7 August 1990, little over a year before Estonia regained full independence.

The initial interpretation of the colours was:

blue mirrors the sky, the lakes and the sea of Estonia and symbolises the loyalty to the nationalist ideas;
black is the colour of the homeland's soil and the national coat;
white is the people's striving for happiness and light.

Alternative Proposals

In 2001, politician Kaarel Tarand suggested that the flag be changed from a tricolour to a Scandinavian-style cross design with the same colours^*. Supporters of this design claim that a tricolour gives Estonia the image of a post-Soviet or Eastern European country, while a cross design would symbolise the country's links with Nordic countries. Many of them also suggest changing the country's name in foreign languages from Estonia to Estland. Several Nordic cross designs were proposed already in 1922, when the state flag was officially adopted; one of them is shown here. As the tricolour is considered an important national symbol, the proposal didn't achieve widespread popularity.

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Estonian culture | National flags

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Alternative Proposals

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