Europe

Flag of the Czech Republic

The Czech Republic, also called Czechia, is a landlocked Central European country celebrated for its medieval architecture, rich brewing tradition, and wealth of historic towns. Prague, the capital, served as an imperial seat of the Holy Roman Empire and remains one of the best-preserved Gothic and Baroque cities in Europe. Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, an event known as the Velvet Divorce.

CapitalPrague
RegionEurope
Current flag since1920
Main coloursWhite, Red, Blue
Populationabout 11 million
Areaabout 79,000 km²
GeographyLandlocked
Flags in history3

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of the Czech Republic means

White and red are the old colours of the Kingdom of Bohemia. The blue wedge was added in 1920 to represent Moravia and Slovakia within Czechoslovakia, and to tell the flag apart from Poland's. When Czechoslovakia split in 1993, the Czech Republic kept the flag even though the two states had agreed that neither would use federal symbols. Slovakia adopted its own flag instead.

How to recognise it

Horizontal white-red with a blue triangle on the left (hoist) side.

Did you know?

The Czech Republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world.

Easily confused with

The Czech Republic's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Russia

Slovakia

Croatia

Flag history of the Czech Republic

Every flag that has flown over the Czech Republic, from today back through time.

1920–present

Czech flag (blue triangle)

Adopted by Czechoslovakia in 1920, adding a blue hoist triangle to distinguish it from Poland's. Czechia kept this exact flag after the peaceful 1993 split, despite a law barring successor states from using the federal flag.

1939–1945

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia

Under Nazi occupation (1939–1945) the Czech lands became the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, flying a white-red-blue horizontal tricolor. The familiar blue-triangle national flag was suppressed for the duration and restored when Czechoslovakia was liberated in 1945.

1918–1920

White-red bicolour

Newly independent Czechoslovakia first flew the historic white-over-red bicolour of Bohemia — but it was nearly identical to Poland's flag, prompting the 1920 redesign.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of the Czech Republic.

1867–1918

Austria-Hungary

The civil ensign split 50/50, joining the Austrian red-white-red with Hungary's colors and both shields — the Dual Monarchy never agreed on a single flag for the whole empire.

1920–1992

Czechoslovakia

Adopted in 1920 with a blue hoist wedge to tell it apart from Poland's flag. Czechia kept it after the 1993 split, despite a clause meant to bar successor states from reusing it.

1198–1918

Kingdom of Bohemia

The white-over-red bicolor of the Czech lands ruled from Prague; its kings were prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire, and one, Charles IV, became Emperor himself.

1182–1918

Margraviate of Moravia

The eastern Czech land, a margraviate within the Bohemian crown; its yellow-and-red checkered eagle gives the modern Moravian flag its distinctive look.