The Secret History Behind Kazakhstan's Flag
Kazakhstan's flag was chosen from 1,200 entries, and the winner was a single designer.
After independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan held a national contest in early 1992. About 600 people sent 1,200 projects from Kazakhstan, Tatarstan, Turkey, Germany and Mongolia. The winning design, by Shaken Niyazbekov, was adopted on June 4, 1992.
On a sky-blue field, a golden sun with 32 rays shines above a soaring golden steppe eagle, with a gold national ornament called koshkar-muiz, the horns of the ram, along the hoist side. The blue stands for honesty, fidelity and integrity, the sun for life and prosperity, and the eagle for freedom and aspiration.
The date printed on every Kazakhstan design in our catalog, December 16, 1991, is the day Kazakhstan declared independence.
A sun, an eagle and a sky as wide as the steppe.
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