A history of the Russian flag in the Presidential Library from the “Great Emperor flags” to the present day

Shortly before the National Flag Day of the Russian Federation, which in our country is celebrated on August 22, the Presidential Library on its Internet resource presents, along with rare editions, the contemporary audio-visual materials, which allow, besides exploring an appearance of the tricolor, to keep track of all the stages of a history of the national flag.

“In the days of the historical development of the peoples, when they begin to feel and be aware of their identity, they get an idea to express their identity with noticeable external sign - a symbol of the people's thoughts and taste or a native history. The subjects for traditional imagery for such national symbols are the banners, flags and gonfalons, emblems and coat of arms, and different most prominent clothing accessories, from which stood out and emerged so-called state or national colors, adopted by the peoples for the most part historically,” - that is how E. N. Voronets explains the occurrence of national symbols in its historical and juridical study of What colors are set in history and Russian laws for distinctively Russian, the all ranks and the state flag? For further information this work can be found on the Presidential library website.

The well-known historian of the Navy P. I. Belavenets focused on the history of the Russian flag in his several books. From one of them, A brief memo on the old Russian banners (1911), we can learn that in Russia the flags initially were called banners, and they were getting unfolded only before the battle, and each army was fighting under its own banner. “The greatest value will certainly was belonging to the so-called Great Sovereign banners. They came to the nearest destination to the current standard, pointing to the presence of the Emperor,” - writes Belavenets. From the given by the author description of sovereign large banners can be found that the dark-red color for the most part prevailed on these, complemented with the white, blue and green in different shades, as well as the iconographic embroidery with gold and silver.

Belavenets points on the flag of Tsar’s Alexei Mikhailovich, a father of Peter I, ship as on the forebear of the Russian national flag. The detailed history of this banner he outlined in 1910-year’s rarities “Flag of the Tsar of Moscow, kept in the Cathedral of the city of Arkhangelsk starting from 1693,” an electronic copy of which is in the Presidential Library stock. The researcher says that during the construction of the first ship for military purposes it was necessary to select the colors of the flag for the ship - “what state is the ship, such state is the flag.” As a result, “Tsar ordered to allot for the banners and bannerettes a kindyak and taffeta (different varieties of fabrics) of the chervchatyi, white and azure colors,” i.e. red, white and blue… These colors are remained till now as the colors of the national flag. They were selected in 1668 and since then have never been withdrawn,” - Belavenets emphasizes. The current version of the colors of the flag, three horizontal fields - white, blue and red, in 1705 by decree of Peter the Great was recognized as “a flag of the trade, commercial and other Russian vessels.”

In 1709, after the Battle of Poltava, Muscovy became known as the Russian Empire, and in the same year a chart of flags of the world was released in Kiev. For the first time the Russian standard of the new model - yellow flag with the black double-headed eagle, on which chest could be seen a white shield with an image of St. George, who is piercing a dragon. According to a herald V. E. Belinsky, it was the Tsar’s personal initiative. In his work “The Russian national flag and its reform” he writes: “Peter the Great, who loved to create and introduce various innovations, much carried away by his passionate nature, then in the field of national identities could wish to “upgrade” the old unsympathetic to him regalement and to offer to the new forming Empire a new emblem, the new colors and a new appearance, which are since then have to distinguish (on an allegorical way) and probably hortatory a new era from the old one, completely by him rejected.” The combination of black, yellow and white colors in 1742 was introduced as an armorial on the officer's scarves, but only in 1858, the highest command, they were joined in the flag and named the armorial colors, so as to join in 1864 in the ribbon for medals and to be recognized as the colors of the Russian state.

In the entire history of our country the main Russian flag has been changed for several times - each sovereign was making his changes. Only in 1896 for the white-blue-red flag was finally designated a statute of the only state flag of the Russian Empire. This fact is described in in P. I. Belavenets’s other work - The colors of the national flag of the Russian State: “A special meeting on the establishment of the colors of national flag … in its final decision voted for the white, blue and red colors, completely rejecting a combination of black-yellow-white, finding that the latest colors “have no heraldic, no historical basis.” It was at this time when the three colors of the flag, which has become a national, received an official interpretation. White color symbolized freedom and independence, blue - the color of the Holy Virgin, patron of Russia, and red meant a statehood.”

After the revolution, since 1918, Russia lived under the red flag, until the white-blue-red flag returned 22 August 1991, when it was raised on the House of Government of Russian Federation. On December 11, 1993, just before the adoption of the new Constitution, which established the modern state system of our country, President Boris Yeltsin signed the decree “On the State Flag of the Russian Federation,” which sanctioned the tricolor as the official symbol of the state.

For those who interested in the history of the Russian flag, in addition to already mentioned works, illustrations from An album of the banners, flags and pennants of the Russian Empire and foreign States (1890), as well as An album of the flags and pennants of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the republics of the Soviet Union and the foreign countries (1923) from the Presidential Library website can become highly interesting.

The history of the flag, as well as the standard and the sign of the Russian President, is told at the Symbols of the presidential power documentary, which is produced within the Presidential Library project entitled “The Presidential Chronicle.”

In addition, more detailed information about the symbols of state authority on the IX-XVIII centuries, the Russian Empire, the state power in the USSR and the Russian Federation can be found in the “Symbols of the state power” section of the State Authority collection of the Presidential Library.