A variety of Polish flags are defined in current Polish national law, either through an act of parliament or a ministerial ordinance. Apart from the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and national symbol, symbolizes a given nation. It is Fly (flag), flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanin ...

, these are mostly military flags, used by one or all branches of the

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (, ; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called in Poland (, roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated ''WP''), are the national Military, armed forces of the Poland, ...

, especially the

Polish Navy The Polish Navy (; often abbreviated to ) is the Navy, naval military branch , branch of the Polish Armed Forces. The Polish Navy consists of 46 ships and about 12,000 commissioned and enlisted personnel. The traditional ship prefix in the Polish ...

. Other flags are flown by vessels of non-military uniformed services. Most Polish flags feature white and red, the national colors of Poland. The national colors, officially adopted in 1831, are of

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

origin and derive from the

tinctures A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolution (chemistry), dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Ge ...

of the coats of arms of Poland and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Additionally, some flags incorporate the white eagle of the Polish coat of arms, while other flags used by the Armed Forces incorporate

military eagle Military eagles () are military insignia used in the Polish Armed Forces, based on the White Eagle of the Polish coat of arms. They are used on elements of military uniforms such as hats and buttons, as well as on military banners, flags, medals, ...

s, which are variants. Both variants of the national flag of Poland were officially adopted in 1919, shortly after Poland re-emerged as an

independent state Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a ...

in the aftermath of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in 1918. Many Polish flags were adopted within the following three years. The designs of most of these flags have been modified only to adjust to the changes in the official rendering of the national coat of arms. Major modifications included a change in the stylization of the eagle from

Neoclassicist Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

in 1927 and the removal of the crown from the eagle's head during the Communist rule from 1944 to 1990. Legal specification for the shades of the national colors has also changed with time. The shade of red was first legally specified as

vermilion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a moder ...

by a presidential decree of 13 December 1928. This verbal prescription was replaced with coordinates in the CIE 1976

color space A color space is a specific organization of colors. In combination with color profiling supported by various physical devices, it supports reproducible representations of colorwhether such representation entails an analog or a digital represe ...

by the Coat of Arms Act of 31 January 1980.

National flags

The basic variant of the

is a plain white-and-red horizontal bicolor. A variant defaced with the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is restricted to official use abroad and at sea. Legal restrictions notwithstanding, the two variants are often treated as interchangeable in practice.

Military flags

Rank flags used in all branches of the Armed Forces

Originally used only by the Navy, the use of these rank flags was extended in 2005 to all branches of the Armed Forces by an amendment to the relevant ministerial ordinance. They are flown to mark the presence and pay respect to the highest civilian and military authorities: the

President of the Republic of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executiv ...

who is ''ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces; the Minister of National Defence who acts on the commander-in-chief's behalf in peacetime;

Marshal of Poland Marshal of Poland () is the highest rank in the Polish Army. It has been granted to only six officers. At present, Marshal is equivalent to a field marshal or general of the army (OF-10) in other NATO armies. History Today there are no living ...

, the highest rank in the Polish army (no living holders since 1989); and the Chief of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

Navy

The war ensign and the naval jack symbolize traditions of the

dating back to Polish

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

fleet of the 15th–17th centuries. They are also symbols of a navy ship crew's courage, honor, unbreakable fighting spirit and readiness to defend Poland and its maritime rights. Naval Service Regulations define when, where and how the flags should be raised and lowered on board a navy ship.

Rank flags

Rank pennants

Air Force

Other branches of the Armed Forces

Flags of the commanders of the units of the Ministry of National Defence

Flags of other uniformed services

Naval flags

Special state service vessels

Special state service flags are used by state-employed civil special-purpose ships while on duty. These flags all follow the same basic design; a white flag with a horizontal stripe whose width is 1/5 of the flag's width. In the middle, each flag is emblazoned with the national coat of arms superimposed on a golden or yellow anchor whose height is 3/5 of the flag's width. The middle stripe is broken in the middle and does not touch the anchor or the arms. The type of special service performed by the ship is indicated by the color of the middle stripe.

National flags

Military flags

Rank flags used in all branches of the Armed Forces

Navy

Rank flags

Rank pennants

Air Force

Other branches of the Armed Forces

Flags of the commanders of the units of the Ministry of National Defence

Flags of other uniformed services

Naval flags

Special state service vessels

Subdivisions flags

Current voivodeship flags

Historical voivodeship flags

Historical flags

Political flags

Organizational flags

Religious flags

Ethnic flags

Regional flags

House flags

See also

References

External links