History of the Russian tricolour: freedom, protection of Mother of God, and statehood

The Day of the National Flag of the Russian Federation is marked on August 22. It has a rich history, which is full of mysteries.

The electronic collections of the Presidential Library give an opportunity to learn more about one of the official symbols of Russia. Digital copies of rare texts and audiovisual materials are available to readers on the library’s portal. These documents make up one of the four basic collections - State Authority.

The history of the flag goes back to the Middle Ages and can be traced in the study entitled The Short Essay of Ancient Russian Banners (1911) authored by P. I. Belavenets. He states that the exact appearance of the banner is controversial. Some researchers claim that the cloth of the banner was black, while others believe it was red. The size of that banner is unknown.

During the reign of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich (Alexis of Russia) the need for a state banner, particularly in the trading fleet, became apparent. It was then that the familiar white-blue-red banner appeared. You can watch the video lecture from the Knowledge of Russia series delivered by Gleb Kalashnikov, Executive Secretary of the Presidential Heraldic Council of the Russian Federation, to find out more about it. “Flags owe their birth to the new time, development of seafaring, not just seafaring, but the appearance of large fleets, the fleets of major national states. The vital task at sea was to identify the ship, which was in front of you, and decide on what to do. That was the origin of flags".

Kalashnikov highlights that at the beginning of his reign Peter the Great strictly followed the traditions introduced by his father. When the Grand Embassy was setting out for Europe it received detailed instructions. One of the orders given to the embassy was to buy white, blue and red cloth for sea flags.

However, some scholars believe that the emperor-reformer had other motives. The book Colours Established by the History and Russian Laws for Distinction of the Russian National Flag (1892) by Ye. N. Voronets reads in part: “Red, blue and white were ancient state colours of Holland, and Emperor Peter I probably out of respect for Holland, where the Tsar and Russia acquired basic knowledge in navigation, borrowed the colour of this country for Russian trading and merchant ships”.

P. I. Belavents in his turn claims that the flag was used for some time on warships as well - before the appearance of St. Andrew’s Flag. In 1700 before mounting the Kerch campaign, the Tsar drew the model of the flag for ships, which had three horizontal stripes – white, blue and red.

After the Battle of Poltava in 1709, when Russia became an empire, the sovereign wanted to introduce changes in everything. This also applied to the banner. A yellow flag with a black two-headed eagle with an image of Saint George defeating the dragon, on its chest, became the new state standard. The documentary film State Symbols of Russia. Part 2. The Flag of Russia (2007–2008), which is accessible on the Presidential Library’s portal, provides a detailed account of the development of this flag.

It was just in 1896, shortly before the coronation of the last emperor Nicholas II, that the tricolour reappeared and became the only flag of Russia. You can study the book by P. I. Belavents Colours of the Russian State National Flag (1910), whose copy is available on the Presidential Library’s portal, to find out more details: “It was at that time that three colours of the flag, which became the national, received the official interpretation. The white colour symbolized freedom and independence, blue meant the colour of Mother of God, protector of Russia, and red stood for statehood".

After the revolution of 1917, the white-blue-red flag was again replaced with the red Soviet banner. It was on August 22, 1991 that the tricolour rose above our country again. A resolution which re-established it as an official symbol of Russia was passed at the emergency session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.