Croatia

The flag of Croatia consists of three horizontal bands of equal size, in the red, white and blue panslavi colors that appear, arranged in different order, even on the flags of other republics of the former Yugoslavia. At the center of the flag is the Croatian coat of arms: a red and white checkered shield overflowing the white band, with the first red check, surmounted by a crown consisting of 5 badges representing the 5 major subdivisions of Croatia: Ancient Croatia ( Zagreb), Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. The red-white-blue tricolor has been used for the Croatian flag since 1848. When Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, the tricolor was the same, but it had a five-pointed red star instead of the emblem. The flag has acquired its current shape on 21 December 1990, replacing the previous flag of the People's Republic of Croatia (Narodna Republika Hrvatska 1945-1963) and the Socialist Republic of Croatia (Socijalisticka Republika Hrvatska 1963-1990), identical as a color arrangement and proportions but loaded in the center of a red star edged in gold in memory of the partisan struggle. The coat of arms of Croatia consists of a main shield surmounted by 5 smaller shields that together make up a crown. The main shield is a checkerboard with 13 red and 12 silver (white) boxes. The coat of arms is known by the name Šahovnica (which in Croatian means "chessboard") and is one of the historical symbols of the country. The current emblem was created by the graphic designer Miroslav Šutej and was approved by the Croatian government on 21 December 1990, under the aegis of a commission presided over by Nikša Stancic, then head of the Department of Croatian History of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb. The drawing basically reproduces the traditional chessboard shield, with the addition of a crown of 5 scudi, representing as many historical regions that form the current Republic of Croatia