Czech Republic Flag

The Czech flag combines a white top stripe, a red bottom stripe, and a blue triangle extending from the hoist to the flag's midpoint. This adds a third colour to what was originally Czechoslovakia's bicolour, distinguishing it from the Polish flag (also white over red).

The blue triangle reaches exactly to the centre of the fly edge. White and red were the colours of the Kingdom of Bohemia; blue was added from Moravia and Slovakia's heraldic traditions.

Czechoslovakia was founded in 1918 using a white-red bicolour. The blue triangle was added in 1920 to differentiate the flag from Poland's identical design. When Czechoslovakia peacefully split in 1993, Slovakia adopted a new design while the Czech Republic retained the existing flag.

A law was passed in 1993 stating the Czech Republic could not change the flag, making it the only successor state to retain the Czechoslovak flag unchanged — and the blue triangle a permanent symbol of Czech national identity.