Banner o Swisserland

The banner o Swisserland consists o a red banner wi a white Greek cross (a bauld, equilateral cross) in the centre. It is ane o anerlie twa square sovereign-state banners, the ither being the Banner o Vatican Ceety. (The ceevil an state ensign, uised bi Swiss ships an boats, haes mair traditional proportions o 2:3.)

Anerlie the dimensions o the cross are formally established syne 1889: "The coat o airms o the federation is, athin a red field, an upricht white cross, whose [four] arms of equal length are a sixth longer than their width." The size o the cross in relation tae the field is no formally established except on the naval ensign, for which the ratio o the size o the cross tae the height is 5:8, an tae the length is 5:12. A ratio o 2:3 or 7:10 tae the span o the banner is uisual.

Uise o the white cross as a military ensign (attached tae the cantonal banners in the form o strips o linen) haes been uised in the Auld Swiss Confederacy since the 14t century, but the modren design o a white cross suspendit in a square red field wis introduced anerlie efter the end o the Napoleonic period, in 1815, an wis introduced as offeecial naitional banner in 1889.

References

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Flags of Switzerland