The own-hand drawing of Peter I, the "father" of the Russian tricolor is featured in the Presidential Library collections

The history of the Russian state flag is not simple, and it still has white spots. Old publications and modern audiovisual materials presented on the portal of the Presidential Library inform a lot of interesting information about the Russian flag, the day of which is celebrated on August 22 in our country.  

On January 20, 1705, Peter I issued a decree according to which "on all sorts of trading vessels" should be raised the white-blue-red flag, he draw a sample and determined the order of the horizontal bands. The personal drawing of Tsar Peter Alekseevich is published in the book by P. I. Belavenets "A Brief Note on the Old Russian Banners" (1911), an electronic copy of which is presented on the portal of the Presidential Library.   

Initially, even with the father of Peter I Alexei Mikhailovich, Belavenets said in another book - "The flag of the Tsar of Moscow, kept in the cathedral of the mountains. Arkhangelsk since 1693" (1910) from the Presidential Library collections "The Tsar instructed to let go of the Kindiaki and Taftu (various types of matter), white and azure "on banners and yawners", i.e. red, white and blue ... These colors are preserved now as the colors of the national flag. They were chosen in 1668 and have never been canceled since then, "Belavenets underlines. In the studies of Russian authors, it was suggested that this flag of three horizontal stripes depicting a golden two-headed eagle in the center was adopted in imitation of the Dutch, because it was there that Peter became a ship-master and tried to adopt much from this European country. Until now, however, there is no unanimous opinion on this issue among historians and heraldists.

Belavenets writes that there was a period when by Peter I the tricolor was replaced by another banner. The reason, however, was weighty: in 1709, after the Battle of Poltava, the Moscow kingdom began to be called the Russian Empire. In the table of flags of the whole world of that period for the first time there is a Russian standard of a new pattern - a yellow flag with a black two-headed eagle, on whose chest in the white shield is depicted Saint George, piercing the dragon. According to the heraldist V. E. Belinsky, this was a personal initiative of the tsar. In his work "The Russian National Flag and Its Reform", which can be viewed in the electronic reading room of the Presidential Library or the remote access center, it was made an assumption:

"Peter the Great, who loved to create and introduce different innovations, being deeply carried away by his passionate nature, could also wish to "update" the old system unsympathetic to him and give him the new empire he created - a new emblem, new colors and appearance, it is instructive to distinguish (allegorically) the new era from the old, completely rejected by him". The emperor did not accidentally propose a "new old" version. "Seeking the correct Russian state colors historically, one should turn to the coat of arms, the banner and the symbolic accessories of state clothing, that is, to the uniforms and the cockade of the Russian state. They are historical sources, and in Russia they are much older than the arbitrary above-mentioned colors merchant, trading, given by Peter trading ships, - said E. Voronets to Belavents in his historical and legal study "What colors are established by history and Russian laws for the distinctively Russian all-conditional and state a flag?". "The flags of the colors red, blue and white make up the ancient Dutch and French national colors, and in Russia are legalized only for certain commercial vessels".  

E. Voronets, referring to the study of Yazykov, insists on the combination of black, yellow and white on the Russian flag, criticizing V. I. Dal's position on this issue, stated in the "Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language": "Dal vainly assured complacent readers at the word "flag" as follows: "All the peoples of Europe know the colors, coat colors, their colors - we (that is, Russian ones) do not know them ..."Meanwhile, many times before Dal, Mr. Yazykov wrote: "We wish that our Kingdom, a lot of special, retained the signs expressing our national cial colors: black, orange (gold) and white (silver)"".

In 1864, the colors listed above were connected on the ribbon for a medal and were recognized as the colors of the Russian state. And only in 1896 for the white-blue-red flag was finally fixed the status of the only state flag of the Russian Empire. This fact was described by P. I. Belavenets in his work "Colors of the Russian National Flag": "A special meeting on the establishment of colors of the national flag ... in its final decision was in favor of the colors white-blue-red, completely rejecting the combination of colors black and yellow-white , finding that the last colors "have neither a heraldic nor a historical foundation". It was at this time that the three colors of the national flag were officially interpreted. White color symbolized freedom and independence, blue - the color of the Virgin, who patronized Russia, and red meant power".

As you can see, during the time of the formation and development of our state the flag changed several times. Each Russian ruler introduced something of his own in the Russian symbolism. Only in 1896, on the eve of the coronation of Nicholas II, was finally approved as a national white-blue-red flag. Since 1918 our country lived under the red flag, and on August 22, 1991 on the Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment a white-blue-red flag (tricolor) appeared again. On this day, an extraordinary session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR decided to consider it an official symbol of Russia.

In addition to electronic copies of rare books, the Presidential Library portal also features modern audiovisual materials. Everyone can get familiar with the substantial video lecture of the candidate of historical sciences, the responsible secretary of the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation, G. V. Kalashnikov. In addition, it draws the attention of all illustrators interested in the history of the Russian flag from the “Album of Standards, Flags and Pennants of the Russian Empire and Foreign Countries” (1890), as well as the “Album of Flags and Pennants of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, Union Soviet Republics and Foreign States” ( 1923).

The meaning of official state symbols is available in the section "Symbols of State Authority" in one of the four basic collections of the Presidential Library "Authority".