Belgium flag picture
| Name | De Belgische vlag · Le drapeau belge (the Tricolore) |
|---|---|
| Adopted | January 23, 1831 (vertical bands) · October 12, 1831 (black at the hoist) August 26, 1830 (the horizontal flag of the revolution) |
| Proportion | 15 : 13 (fly : hoist) — 2 : 3 in common use |
| Origin | The arms of the Duchy of Brabant — a gold lion with red claws and tongue on black |
| Law | Article 193 of the Constitution; the decrees of 1831; the federal protocol guide |
The Belgian flag is a vertical tricolor of black, yellow, and red in a nearly square 13:15 — the colors of the lion of Brabant, raised in horizontal stripes in the revolution of 1830 and set upright by the decrees of 1831.
An overview
The national flag of Belgium is a vertical tricolor of black, yellow, and red — black at the hoist — in an official proportion of 13:15 that makes it almost square, though most of the flags one sees are made at 2:3. The colors are those of the arms of the Duchy of Brabant: a gold lion with red claws and tongue on a black shield.
The flag was born in a theater riot. On August 25, 1830, a performance at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels turned into an uprising against Dutch rule; the next day the insurgents ran up a horizontal red-yellow-black flag at the town hall, in the colors Brussels had worn in revolt since 1787. The Provisional Government turned the bands vertical on January 23, 1831 — on the model of the French tricolor — and a royal decree of October 12, 1831, under the new King Leopold I, fixed the order: black, yellow, red.
The Constitution still names the colors the other way round — red, yellow and black, in Article 193 — the order of the horizontal flag of 1830. It says nothing about how they should be arranged; that has been the decrees’ work for nearly two centuries.
The lion of Brabant
The flag carries no device, but it is a coat of arms taken apart. The dukes of Brabant bore, from the 12th century, a gold lion on a black shield, its claws and tongue red — in the language of heraldry, sable a lion rampant or armed and langued gules. Black, yellow and red: the three colors of the flag are the three colors of that shield.
They were the colors of revolt before they were the colors of a state. The citizens of Brussels wore black-yellow-red cockades against their Austrian rulers in 1787, the United Belgian States of 1789 fought under horizontal red, black and yellow, and in August 1830 the insurgents at the Brussels town hall pulled down a French tricolor and ran up Brabant’s colors in its place. The lion itself lives on in the national arms and on the flag of the government’s ships.
Official color specification
No Belgian instrument fixes the shades: the Constitution names the colors and the protocol guide gives the proportions, and there the law stops. The values below are the matches the standard references carry. The yellow is a true yellow — not the deep gold of the German flag, the comparison Belgians most often have to make.
| Color | Hex | Pantone | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | #000000 | Black | 0, 0, 0 |
| Yellow | #FDDA24 | 116 C | 253, 218, 36 |
| Red | #EF3340 | 032 C | 239, 51, 64 |
Symbolism and meaning
The Belgian flag means a coat of arms. Its three colors are the three colors of the shield of Brabant, and the later readings only add the other lions of the old Low Countries.
No official allegory exists; Belgium’s flag is heraldry, not a message.
Design and official specification
The federal protocol guide gives the national flag as 2.6 meters tall for every 3 meters wide — 13:15 — with three equal vertical bands and the black at the pole. Belgium is one of very few countries whose flag is nearly square without being square, and one of the few whose official proportion is almost never used: flagmakers, ministries and town halls fly the 2:3 civil ensign.
| Element | Specification | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hoist (height) | 13 | 260 cm (102 in) on the protocol guide's flag |
| Fly (length) | 15 | 300 cm (118 in) |
| Ratio | 13 : 15 | Almost square; in practice most flags are made at 2:3 |
| Bands | Three equal vertical — black at the hoist, yellow, red at the fly | Each one-third of the length; the order fixed by royal decree, October 12, 1831 |
| The colors in law | "The Belgian Nation chooses red, yellow and black as its colours" — Article 193 of the Constitution | Named in the order of the 1830 flag; the arrangement left to decree |
| Civil ensign | The same tricolor at 2:3 | The flag for civilians at sea |
| State ensign | The tricolor with a crowned black lion on the yellow band | Government vessels, since 1950 |
| Naval ensign | A white field with a saltire in the three colors, a crown over crossed cannons above, an anchor below | Adopted March 2, 1950; the naval jack is the tricolor at 1:1 |
How the flag evolved
A duke’s shield, a revolution’s cockade, a night at the theater, and two decrees — the flag’s six centuries in four moves.
1183
The arms of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant, created in 1183, bore a gold lion on black with red claws and tongue — recorded in use by 1234. For six centuries the black-and-gold banner, and the red that came with it, flew over Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp; the shield passed into the arms of the Belgian kingdom in 1837.
1789
The first tricolor
The Brussels crowds had worn black-yellow-red cockades against Emperor Joseph II since 1787; in the Brabant Revolution of 1789 the short-lived United Belgian States fought under a horizontal tricolor of red, black and yellow. The state fell within a year, but the colors had been given a flag.
1830
La Monnaie and the town hall
On August 25, 1830, a performance at the Théâtre de la Monnaie spilled into riot against Dutch rule. The next day a French tricolor flew from the Brussels town hall; the insurgents replaced it with a flag of horizontal red, yellow and black run up from cloth bought at a nearby shop. That order — red, yellow, black — is the one Article 193 of the Constitution still uses.
1831
Upright, black at the hoist
On January 23, 1831, the Provisional Government decreed that the merchant flag would carry the colors in vertical bands — on the model of the French tricolor, and to tell Belgian ships from Dutch. A royal decree of October 12, 1831, under the new King Leopold I, settled the order: black at the pole, then yellow, then red. The proportions the protocol guide gives, 2.6 m by 3 m, make the flag a near-square 13:15 that few flagmakers observe.
Who designed the Belgian flag?
No one signed it. The colors were six centuries old when the revolution reached for them; the horizontal flag of August 26, 1830, was run up at the Brussels town hall from cloth bought at a nearby shop, in a night when names were not being recorded — tradition credits the journalist Lucien Jottrand and the lawyer Édouard Ducpétiaux with the choice. The vertical arrangement was the Provisional Government’s, by decree of January 23, 1831, and the order of the bands King Leopold I’s, by decree of October 12.
A coat of arms, a crowd, and two decrees: that is the flag’s authorship.
July 21
Belgium keeps no flag day. The flag’s day is National Day, July 21 — the anniversary of Leopold I’s oath to the Constitution in 1831 — when it flies from every public building and the parade passes the royal palace on the Place des Palais. Its own dates are January 23, 1831, when the bands turned vertical, and October 12, 1831, when the black went to the hoist.
Legal status and display rules
Belgium has no flag statute. Article 193 of the Constitution names the colors; the decrees of 1831 fix the bands; everything else is the federal protocol guide, which governs proportions and precedence. Its rules are tabled here.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| The law | Article 193 of the Constitution names the colors; the decrees of January 23 and October 12, 1831, fix the vertical bands and their order; the rest is the federal protocol guide, not statute |
| Proportions | The protocol guide gives the national flag as 2.6 m tall for every 3 m wide — 13:15 |
| Equal rank | In the federal state the national flag and the flags of the communities and regions hold the same rank in principle |
| Precedence | When flags are raised, lowered or carried, the national flag comes first — then the community or regional flag, the European flag, the provincial flags in alphabetical order in the local language, and the municipal flag |
| Visiting heads of state | A visiting head of state's flag may take second place, the others dropping a rank |
| Public buildings | Flown on the federal, community, regional and municipal buildings on National Day and the days the authorities set; the royal standard flies above the palace only when the King is in the country |
| Respect | Insulting the flag is not itself an offense in Belgian law; its misuse is governed by general provisions |
Half-mast and mourning
Mourning is declared by the federal government, and the flags of the public buildings follow.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| When | In periods of national mourning declared by the federal government — three days after the attacks of March 22, 2016; on the death of a member of the royal family |
| How | The flag is lowered to half-mast on public buildings; the European flag beside it follows |
Things you may not know
The official flag is almost never flown. The protocol guide’s 13:15 proportion is so rarely made that the 2:3 civil ensign has become the flag in practice — on ministries, town halls, and the royal palace alike.
The Constitution has the colors backward. Article 193 says red, yellow and black — the top-to-bottom order of the horizontal flag of 1830, frozen in the text before the bands were turned upright.
The flag began by replacing a French one. On the morning after the Monnaie riot a French tricolor flew over the Brussels town hall; the insurgents took it down and put up Brabant’s colors — then, five months later, borrowed the French flag’s vertical bands anyway.
Frequently asked questions
What does the flag of Belgium look like?
Three equal vertical bands — black at the hoist, yellow in the middle, red at the fly — in a nearly square official proportion of 13:15, though most flags are made at 2:3. It has flown in vertical bands since January 23, 1831, and in this order since October 12 of that year.
What do the colors of the Belgian flag mean?
They are heraldic, not allegorical: the colors of the arms of the Duchy of Brabant — a gold lion with red claws and tongue on a black shield. Black is the field, yellow the lion, red its claws and tongue. Later readings add the black lion of Flanders and Namur and the red lions of Hainaut, Limburg and Luxembourg.
Why is the Belgian flag almost square?
The federal protocol guide gives the national flag as 2.6 meters tall for every 3 meters wide — a ratio of 13:15, one of the most unusual of any national flag. The reason is not recorded with certainty; in practice flagmakers and most public buildings use the 2:3 proportion of the civil ensign.
When was the Belgian flag adopted?
The horizontal red-yellow-black flag was raised at the Brussels town hall on August 26, 1830, the day after the revolution began. The Provisional Government turned the bands vertical by decree on January 23, 1831, and a royal decree of October 12, 1831, put the black at the hoist — the flag flown ever since.
Why does the Constitution name the colors in a different order?
Article 193 says the Belgian nation chooses red, yellow and black — the top-to-bottom order of the horizontal flag of 1830, written before the bands were turned upright. The Constitution names the colors and says nothing about their arrangement; the order black-yellow-red comes from the decree of October 1831.
How is the Belgian flag different from Germany's?
Germany's flag is horizontal — black over red over gold — and its yellow is a deep gold. Belgium's is vertical, black-yellow-red from the hoist, and its yellow is a true yellow. The two share no history: Belgium's colors are Brabant's, Germany's the uniforms of the Lützow Free Corps of 1813.
What are the official colors of the Belgian flag?
No Belgian instrument fixes a Pantone — the Constitution and the protocol guide name the colors only. The values in common use are black, yellow #FDDA24 (Pantone 116 C) and red #EF3340 (Pantone 032 C).
What are the rules for flying the Belgian flag?
Belgium has no flag statute; the federal protocol guide governs. The national flag and the flags of the communities and regions hold equal rank in principle, but when flags are raised, lowered or carried the national flag comes first, then the community or regional flag, the European flag, the provincial flags and the municipal flag. In national mourning it flies at half-mast on public buildings.
Does Belgium have a flag day?
No. The flag's great day is National Day, July 21 — the anniversary of Leopold I's oath to the Constitution in 1831 — when it flies from every public building and the military parade passes the royal palace. The flag's own dates are January 23 and October 12, 1831.
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