The Secret History Behind Slovakia's Flag
Slovakia's flag has a coat of arms because it was too easy to confuse with another flag.
The blue, white and red of the flag go back to 1848, when the Slovak National Council used the Pan-Slavic colors during the uprising of that year. The tricolor was used unofficially for generations.
When Czechoslovakia split, Russia was bringing back its own white-blue-red flag in the same years, and the plain tricolor was the same as Slovakia's. So the Slovaks added the national arms to the flag, and the design was written into the Constitution that came into force in September 1992.
The arms show a double cross over three blue hills. The cross stands for the Christian tradition, and the hills for three mountain ranges: the Tatra, the Fatra and the Matra.
The date printed on every Slovakia design in our catalog, January 1, 1993, is the day the independent Slovak Republic began.
A flag that added one detail so it would be its own.
Looking for a gift with a story? See our heritage gift guide, or read the story behind any other country's flag on our free Flag Stories page.