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![[Flag]](../images/m/mk.gif)
image by Željko Heimer, 26 June 2005
Colour approximate specifications (Album des Pavillons [pay00]):
Pantone CMYK (%)
Red 485c 0 100 90 0
Yellow 108c 0 0 100 0
On this page:
See also:
Note: Macedonia was renamed North Macedonia in 2018. References posted before 2018 generally use then name "Macedonia".
The national flag, arms and anthem of North Macedonia are prescribed in Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia (text), adopted on 17 November 1991 and last amended on 12 April 2011, as follows:
Article 5.
The state symbols of the Republic of Macedonia are the coat of arms, the flag and the national anthem. The coat of arms, the flag and the national anthem of the Republic of Macedonia are adopted by law by a two-thirds majority vote of the total number of Assembly Representatives
Ivan Sache, 5 March 2002
The flag of Macedonia is prescribed by the Act on the Flag of the Republic of Macedonia, adopted on 5 October 1995 by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and promulgated the same day by Decree No. 08-3359/1, published on 6 October 1995 in the official gazette of the Republic of Macedonia).
Article 2.
The flag of the Republic of Macedonia is red with a golden-yellow sun. The sun has eight rays, emerging from the sun disk, thickening towards the end. The sun rays spread diagonally, horizontally and vertically.
The diameter of the sun disk is equal to one-seventh of the length of the flag.
The centre of the sun matches the intersection of the diagonals of the flag.
The ratio between the width and the length of the flag is one to two.Article 3.
The design illustration of the flag of the Republic of Macedonia is a constitutent part of this Act.Article 4.
On the day this Act comes into effect the Act on the Flag of the Republic of Macedonia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 50/92) ceases to exist.Article 5.
This Act comes into effect on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia.
Jos Poels, 21 November 1995
![[Flag]](../images/m/mk'.gif)
Construction sheet of the flag of Macedonia - Reconstruction after the law by Željko Heimer, 26 June 2005
The overall proportions of the flag and the diameter of the sun disk (1/7 of the flag's length, or 40 units based on a flag sheet of 140 x 280 units) are the only explicit dimensions provided in the Law. The other construction details have to be assumed from the drawing.
Unfortunately, the Law does not say anything either on the width of the fimbriation around the disk or on the geometry of the sun rays end.
The width of the vertical ands horizontal rays at the edge of the flag is 1/10 of the flag's length (28 units). The triangles forming the horizontal rays reach the center of the flag, while the triangles forming the vertical rays reach an imaginary circle with diameter half of the sun disk diameter (20 units).
The diagonal sun rays have one edge matching the flag's diagonal,
while the other edge reaches an imaginary circle with diameter 1/8 of the sun disk diameter (5 units). The width of the diagonal sun rays at the edge of the flag is 1.5 times the width of the horizontal and vertical rays (42 units).
Finally, the diameter of the imaginary circle forming the outer edge
of the red fimbriation around the sun disk is 50 units.
In his book Znaci i ornamenti (Muzej na sovremena umetnost, Skopje, 2005), Miroslav Grcev (b. 1955, Professor of Urban Planning at the
Faculty of Architecture of Skoplje) provides his original flag proposal and the construction sheet.
The proposed flag is in proportions 5:8, which is a good approximation of the Golden section, Φ, according to the designer, drawn on an array of 10 x 16 squares, each of side A. The central disk circumscribes the four cebntral squares, having therefore a diameter of A x √ 2). The eight yellow rays are formed by triangles: the vertical rays have the apex in the centre of the flag and the base of 2 x A in length, the horizontal rays have the apex A away from the centre in opposite directions and the base also of 2 x A in length, and the diagonal rays have the apex in the opposite corners of a rectangle of 2 x A in width on 1.25 x A in height and the base of 3 x A in length along the flag's top and bottom edges and touching the
host and fly corners; accordingly, the flag's diagonals form the division
lines between the red and yellow fields there.
Apparently the Parliament (or, probably, some of its committees) amended the flag's overall proportions to 1:2 and added a red ring around the sun disk.
Željko Heimer, 12 February 2009
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each NOC was sent an image of the flag, including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Macedonia (FYROM) [as the country was named at the time], PMS 485 red, 108 yellow. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012
According to Nova Makedonija, 20 September 1995, the Republic of Macedonia will have a new national flag as soon as 5 October, when
the Parliament session on the issue is scheduled. The paper presents
two options for the flag, both having a red background and a
golden-yellow symbol as the central figure. The first solution for the
symbol would be a rising or setting half-sun, while the second will
be a sun with rays spreading horizontally, vertically or diagonally
across the flag.
The paper also says that parties represented in the Parliament are already
discussing the possible design of the new flag.
Sources close to the Presidency of the Parliament say that
next Thursday or Friday, a procedure is to begin to
adopt a new flag. Along with the flag, the Parlament will discuss
about the already forgotten Law on a national coat of arms.
The agenda of the session has not yet been precisely
determined, but the procedure is expected to be
completed before the 30-day deadline, defined in last week's
agreement Macedonia signed with Greece in New York.
As days are numbered, the 16-sun-rays flag
that represented Macedonia since August 1992 will be replaced in a
short procedure. Meaning, the proposal to pass a new Law on the flag,
as a first stage, will be presented at the same time with the
definite version of the suggested Law, which is a third stage. In
this way, the Parliament will skip over the usual practice to debate
over a draft law. Thus shortened, the procedure will enable the
Parliament to get the entire matter completed in a single day. Under
the current procedural regulations, however, a Parliament session
cannot be scheduled before 15 days after the procedure has been
started.
As far as the procedure goes, there are announcements that the
Government will not be the one to come up with a suggested solution,
but the proposal is to come from a group of representatives. The
intention is to have a group of members of Parliament including
elements from all the parliamentary groups. The suggestion will first
of all be discussed by the Constitutional Commission and will then be
proceeded to the Parliament. Another option is to have the Parliament
signatories proposing a solution determined by the Constitutional
Commission.
The basis for deciding on the new flag, sources inform, will be
the proposals that were selected during the open competition held three years ago, when independent national symbols were designed for the first time. The following six ideas were then bought out: MAKO by Dimko Krstevski, Phoenix 92 by Kostadin Tancev, 5222 by Branko Kostovski, A-OPULSI 68 by Ilija Spasovski,
Makedonija 992 by Aco Mitrevski and 08002 by Milivoj
Gruevski.
Over 100 submissions entered the competition in 1992, with the red and
golden-yellow colors as predominating features. The most frequently
suggested symbol was the sun, drawn in all kinds of stylized shapes.
Upon a proposal of the jury, the Constitutional Commission
voted by a majority of votes in favor of the suggested red flag with
a many-rayed sun in the middle. It is these two elements that have
led many spectators to believe the new flag will also have red color
as a basic one and again a golden sun as a center symbol, only this
time in a shape quite different from the current one. Some even point
out to three suggestions as the most serious candidates.
The opening of the procedure for replacement of the national flag
will also be used to decide on a national
coat of arms. The previous Parliament
failed to provide the required 80 votes in favor to adopt this
symbol. The matter then stopped at an argument between the
Constitutional Commission and the
VMRO-DPMNE parliamentarian group. The
Commission's suggestion was to have a golden many-rayed sun in the
middle (an application of its suggestion for the flag), whereas the
VMRO-DPMNE representatives insisted on a lion as a central figure. Neither
suggestion was given the necessary two-thirds majority of votes and
the issue was dropped and left for better times in the future.
It should be pointed out here, however, that the SDSM member of
Parliament Nikola Popovski did initiate a procedure on the
coat of arms as early as last spring. His idea was to keep the old
coat of arms but without the five-pointed star. Some say that his
suggestion will be in the race along with the most successful ideas
of the 1992 open competition. Unofficial sources even say that the
new flag symbol will also appear on the national coat of arms.
As A1 TV informs, calling on its sources, the new symbol on the Macedonian flag most probably will be a sun with eight sun rays on a red base. Meantime, there are two possible variants for the flag, the difference being the length of the sunrays. Proposers of the new symbol are a group of delegates of the election coalition Alliance for Macedonia and their number may be over 80 representatives.
Andrej Brodnik, 21 September 1995, quoting Macedonian Information and Liaison Service News, 20 September 1995
The Macedonia flag day was celebrated for the first time on 15 May 2010.
Valentin Poposki, 10 August 2010
The biggest North Macedonia flag ever was made for the
football match between Macedonia and England, played
in Skopje on 6 September 2006. Made of cloth, the flag is 28 m x 50 m long and weights about 200 kg.
Ordered by Skopska Pivara (Skopje Brewery) as a gift for the fans. the flag was displayed across the southern part of the Skopje stadium.
Valentin Poposki, 7 September 2006
The first two stanza of the North Macedonia national anthem (Denes nad Makedonija - Today in Macedonia; text) say:
Today on Macedonia, is born
the new sun of liberty
The Macedonians fight
for their own rights!
The Macedonians fight
for their own rights!For now on, the flag flies
(that) of the Kručevo Republic
Goce Delčev, Pitu Guli
Dame Gruev, Sandanski!
Goce Delčev, Pitu Guli
Dame Gruev, Sandanski!
According to Vele Samak, the anthem was composed and created in 1944 or 1943 by Vlado Maleski, a poet from Struga. It was adopted as an anthem of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia when it was established after the Second World War. Later the song was selected to be the anthem of the newly established independent Republic of Macedonia.
Ivan Sache, 28 February 2002
The town of Delčevo was named after
the Macedonian revolutionary Goce Delčev (1872-1903), who was one of the leaders
of the Ilinden uprising against the
Ottomans.
Pitu Guli (1865-1903), a military leader (duke) in
Kručevo led a band of rebels
ocassionally since 1885. He was later the main military leader of the
Ilinden uprising.
Dame (Damjan) Gruev (1871-1906) was a close coworker of Goce Delčev. Imprisoned by the Turks in 1900, he was one of the leaders
of the Ilinden uprising, killed in Turkish pursuit.
Jane Sandanski (1872-1915) was a Macedonian liberation fighter.
Active in fight against the Vrhovists, he cooperated much with
the Young Turks and led a military group that helped the Young
Turkish Revolution in Istanbul. In 1909, he was appointed leader of
the National Federative Party, established that year. After the
Balkan Wars, he fought for favourous solution of the Macedonian
question and was killed by deceit by the Vhrovists.
Željko Heimer, 13 March 2002