Bosnia and Herzegovina flag picture
| Name | Zastava Bosne i Hercegovine (the state flag) |
|---|---|
| Adopted | February 4, 1998 (imposed by the High Representative) 2001 (adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly) |
| Designer | Mladen Kolobarić (head of the flag commission) |
| Proportion | 2 : 1 (fly : hoist) |
| Law | Law on the Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1998 |
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a yellow right triangle on blue with a diagonal of white stars running off both edges — a triangle for the shape of the country and its three peoples, stars for Europe without end, imposed by the High Representative in 1998 when the parliament could not agree on a flag of its own.
An overview
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a blue field with a yellow right triangle right of center and a diagonal row of white stars running parallel to its long side from the top edge to the bottom — seven stars whole, two cut in half by the edges. The ratio is 1:2. It is the rare national flag designed to belong to no one: the triangle is the shape of the country and its three peoples, the stars are Europe, and the blue and yellow are Europe’s colors.
It was imposed rather than chosen. The Dayton Agreement of 1995, which ended the war, required a flag acceptable to Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs alike; the Parliamentary Assembly failed for two years to agree on one, and when its last session before the Nagano Winter Olympics broke up on February 3, 1998, without a decision, High Representative Carlos Westendorp used his powers under the peace settlement to impose the Law on the Flag the next day — so that the country’s athletes could march under their own colors. The design was Mladen Kolobarić’s. The Assembly adopted the law itself in 2001.
It replaced the lily flag of 1992, the shield of the medieval Kotromanić kings — meant as neutral, rejected in the war by most Croats and Serbs — and it has not changed since.
The stars and the triangle
The flag was designed to mean nothing that any one of the three peoples could claim. The yellow triangle is the shape of the country — Bosnia and Herzegovina on the map is roughly a triangle standing on one point — and its three corners are the three constituent peoples of the Dayton constitution: Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs, equal and unranked. The blue and the yellow are the colors of the flag of Europe, chosen to place the state in a European future rather than a Balkan past.
The stars are the flag’s one stroke of wit. Nine white five-pointed stars run along the triangle’s long side from the top edge of the flag to the bottom — but the first and last are cut in half by the edges, so that the row appears to continue beyond the cloth in both directions. Seven whole stars and two halves: a line with no beginning and no end, for a Europe without limit. The design was Mladen Kolobarić’s, the Mostar-born painter who had been art director of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics of 1984.
Official color specification
The colors are Europe’s: the Reflex Blue and the Pantone 116 yellow of the flag of the European Union and the Council of Europe, with white for the stars. The Law’s specification sheet fixed them in 1998; the values below are those the vexillological record carries.
| Color | Hex | Pantone | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | #001489 | Reflex Blue C | 0, 20, 137 |
| Yellow | #FFCD00 | 116 C | 255, 205, 0 |
| White | #FFFFFF | White | 255, 255, 255 |
Symbolism and meaning
The Office of the High Representative explained the flag when it imposed it, and the explanation has held: every element points outward, to the country’s shape and to Europe, and none inward to a single people.
The number of stars — nine, two of them halved — carries no meaning of its own; the cut does.
Design and official specification
Article 3 of the Law describes the flag in words — a blue field, a yellow triangle right of center, a row of white stars parallel to its left side from edge to edge — and Article 4 fixes the 1:2 ratio; a specification drawing accompanied the law. The coat of arms of May 18, 1998, repeats the design on a shield. The armed forces, unified in 2004, fly the flag in the canton of a light blue field.
| Element | Specification | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hoist (height) | 1.0 | 100 cm (39.4 in) |
| Fly (length) | 2.0 | 200 cm (78.7 in) |
| Ratio | 1 : 2 | Law on the Flag, Article 4 |
| The triangle | A yellow right triangle right of center — its right angle at the top edge, its hypotenuse falling from upper hoist toward lower fly | Article 3 |
| The stars | A row of white five-pointed stars parallel to the hypotenuse, from the top edge to the bottom — seven whole stars and two halves cut by the edges | Article 3; the row reads as endless |
| Colors | Pantone Reflex Blue C, Pantone 116 C, white | The colors of the flag of Europe |
| Coat of arms | The same design on a shield — the yellow triangle in the upper corner, seven stars in a diagonal row — adopted May 18, 1998 | The Law on the Coat of Arms |
| Armed forces | A light blue field with the national flag in the canton and the forces' emblem in the fly | Since 2004 |
How the flag evolved
A red flag with no symbol of its own, a medieval lily rejected in war, and a design imposed three days before the Olympics — the flag’s story in three moves.
1946
The red flag of the Socialist Republic
Within Tito's Yugoslavia the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina flew a plain red field with a small Yugoslav tricolor and red star in the canton — the only one of the six republics whose flag carried no color or emblem of its own, since none belonged to all its peoples.
1992
The lilies of the Kotromanić
When independence was proclaimed in March 1992, the government adopted on May 4 a white flag bearing the medieval shield of the Kotromanić kings — a blue field with six golden fleurs-de-lis, the Bosnian lily, divided by a white diagonal — drawn by Zvonimir Bebek. Meant as neutral because it reached back before the divisions, it was rejected by most Croats and Serbs as the war began, and flew for the state through the war and the Dayton peace of 1995.
1998
Imposed at midnight
Dayton required a flag acceptable to all three peoples, and the Parliamentary Assembly could not agree on one. On February 3, 1998, its last session before the Nagano Winter Olympics failed again; the next day High Representative Carlos Westendorp imposed the Law on the Flag and Mladen Kolobarić's design, so that the country's athletes could march under a flag of their own. The Parliamentary Assembly adopted the law in 2001. It has not changed since.
Who designed the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Mladen Kolobarić — born in Mostar in 1933, trained at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade, for thirty years a professor at the Sarajevo Academy of Fine Arts, and the art director of the Winter Olympics that Sarajevo hosted in 1984. He headed the commission that prepared flag designs for the High Representative after the parliament’s deadlock, and the triangle-and-stars was his; Westendorp chose it from the commission’s proposals and imposed it on February 4, 1998. Kolobarić died in Sarajevo in 2009.
The flag it replaced had a designer too: Zvonimir Bebek drew the lily shield of 1992.
March 1 and November 25
Bosnia and Herzegovina keeps no flag day, and its two state holidays are not kept by the whole state. Independence Day, March 1, marks the referendum of 1992; Statehood Day, November 25, marks the wartime assembly at Mrkonjić Grad in 1943 that founded the modern republic. The flag flies on both in the Federation and Brčko; Republika Srpska does not observe them and keeps its own day, January 9 — the anniversary the Constitutional Court has twice ruled unconstitutional.
Legal status and display rules
The flag rests on the Law on the Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina — imposed on February 4, 1998, adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly in 2001 — whose five articles describe the flag and say where the State displays it. Its provisions, and the practice around them, are tabled here.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| The instrument | The Law on the Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina, imposed by High Representative Carlos Westendorp on February 4, 1998, with its specification drawing; adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly and published in the Official Gazette in 2001 |
| Article 2 | The flag represents Bosnia and Herzegovina and is displayed as the symbol of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Article 5 — the state institutions | Displayed on all buildings of the Presidency, the Council of Ministers and its ministries, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Standing Committee on Military Matters, the Central Bank, the Election Commission and every other institution of the common state |
| Abroad | On the embassies, consulates and missions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at international organizations and events where the state is represented |
| Brčko District | The District flies the state flag as its own |
| The entities | The Federation has had no flag of its own since the Constitutional Court struck its symbols down in 2007 and uses the state flag; Republika Srpska flies its own red-blue-white tricolor beside it |
| Respect | Displayed clean and whole, and not used in a manner that would demean it; the state has no flag statute beyond the Law and the protocol of the institutions |
Half-mast and mourning
Mourning at the level of the State is the Council of Ministers’ to declare; the entities declare their own.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| When | On days of mourning declared by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina — as for the victims of Srebrenica each July 11, and after national tragedies; the entities declare their own days |
| How | The flag is lowered to half-mast on the buildings of the state institutions for the day or days declared |
Things you may not know
The Olympics set the deadline. The flag was imposed on February 4, 1998, three days before the Nagano Games opened, so that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s team would not march behind a flag half the country rejected.
The anthem has no words either. The flag’s companion, the state anthem of 1999, is one of four in the world with no official lyrics — for the same reason the flag has no lily, no cross, and no eagle.
One entity has no flag at all. The Constitutional Court struck down the Federation’s flag and arms in 2007; it has used the state flag since, while Republika Srpska flies its own tricolor.
Frequently asked questions
What does the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina look like?
A blue field with a yellow right triangle just right of center, its right angle at the top edge, and a row of white five-pointed stars running parallel to the triangle's long side from the top of the flag to the bottom — seven whole stars and two cut in half by the edges. The ratio is 1:2. It has flown since February 4, 1998.
What do the triangle and the stars mean?
The triangle is the shape of the country and stands for its three constituent peoples — Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. The stars stand for Europe, and the row is cut off at the top and bottom so that it appears to go on forever. The blue and yellow are the colors of the European flag. The design was made deliberately free of any symbol belonging to one people.
Why was the flag imposed by a foreign official?
Because the Parliamentary Assembly could not agree. The Dayton Agreement of 1995 required a new flag acceptable to all three peoples; after two years of deadlock, and with the Winter Olympics at Nagano days away, High Representative Carlos Westendorp — who holds powers to impose laws under the peace settlement — imposed the Law on the Flag on February 4, 1998. The Assembly adopted the law itself in 2001.
Who designed the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
Mladen Kolobarić, a painter and graphic designer from Mostar, professor at the Sarajevo Academy of Fine Arts and art director of the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, who headed the commission that prepared the designs for the High Representative. He died in Sarajevo in 2009.
What flag did Bosnia and Herzegovina fly before 1998?
From May 4, 1992, a white flag with the blue shield and six golden lilies of the medieval Kotromanić kings, designed by Zvonimir Bebek — the flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the war. Before independence the Socialist Republic flew a red field with a small Yugoslav flag in the canton, the only Yugoslav republic without symbols of its own.
What are the official colors of the flag?
Pantone Reflex Blue C for the field (#001489), Pantone 116 C for the triangle (#FFCD00) and white for the stars — the blue and yellow of the flag of Europe. The values come from the law's specification sheet as the vexillological record carries it.
How many stars are on the Bosnian flag?
Nine — seven whole and two halves, the halves cut by the top and bottom edges. The number has no fixed meaning; the point is the cut: the row is designed to look endless, as a line of stars that continues beyond the flag in both directions, for a Europe without limit.
Where must the flag be flown?
Article 5 of the Law on the Flag requires it on all buildings of the Presidency, the Council of Ministers and its ministries, the Parliamentary Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Central Bank, the Election Commission and every other institution of the common state, and on the embassies and missions abroad. Brčko District uses it as its own; Republika Srpska flies its own tricolor beside it.
Does Bosnia and Herzegovina have a flag day?
No. The state keeps two holidays — Independence Day, March 1, for the referendum of 1992, and Statehood Day, November 25, for the wartime assembly of 1943 — and the flag flies on both, but Republika Srpska does not observe them and keeps its own day, January 9. No single day belongs to the flag across the whole country.
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