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North Macedonia: Flag proposals

Last modified: 2023-03-25 by rob raeside
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Macedonian "4 in 1" flag

4 in 1 flah

'4 in 1" Macedoanian flag - Image by Szymon Pawlas, 31 July 2011

Emilija Hristova updated in Facebook photos of a red flag consisting of a yellow centered upright cross with a yellow "Macedonian cross" [an emblem used by the Macedonian Orthodox Church] fimbriated red in its middle and four flags between its arms:
- the 1st quarter is the flag with the "Sun of Vergina", used in 1992-1995;
- the 2nd quarter is a proposed flag with a lion;
- the 3rd quarter is the flag of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia, used in 1946-1992, here with a "fat" star, not a regular one;
- the 4th quarter is the current flag, used since 1995.

Szymon Pawlas & Eugene Ipavec, 27 July 2011


Proposals for the Macedonian flag, 1995

Proposal by the Flag Institute

Proposal made by The Flag Institute - Reconstructed image by António Martins, 19 February 1999

Flagmaster # 080 (1995), pp. 7-10 [flm95d] has an article concerning the flag of Macedonia, and a design suggested by the Flag Institute (most probably by William Crampton). It appears to be horizontally divided, red over blue, surmounted overall by a gold or white spread-wing double-headed eagle and three sixpointed stars arrainged in the spaces between the wings and necks and between the two necks. The report also states that a group of parliamentarians will form a committee to look over entries submitted some three years ago.

Bruce Ward, 1 March 1996

The image is somewhat more ornamented than the heraldically simplified Albanian eagle. If I remember correctly, the flag described there was not blue, but black.

Željko Heimer, 20 February 1998


Proposals for the Macedonian flag, 1992

[Macedonian flag as originally designed]

First proposal, 1992 - Image by Sacha Shopov, 6 November 1996

The above image shows the Macedonian flag as originally designed in 1992. Due to political pressures, the government of the Republic of Macedonia proposed to eliminate the blue in the center.

Sacha Shopov, 6 November 1996

This flag was never official, but was in use as some kind of "national flag" in many meetings and demonstrations, and is still used today. A similar flag is used by the World Macedonian Congress.
According to the statute of the OMO Ilinden - PIRIN (party of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria), the blue object in the middle of the Sun of Vergina is an edelweiss, a flower that grows in the Pirin mountain, today in Bulgaria.

Valentin Poposki, 8 February 2009

1993 proposal 1      1993 proposal 2

Flag proposals - Images by António Martins, 19 February 1999

After the break-up of Yugoslavia a new unofficial flag was used: red with a golden lion; a proposal horizontally divided black-red-black-red with the golden lion in the center was never adopted. I think that the proposal is a reminiscent of the 1903 proposal.

Jaume Ollé, 6 November 1996

Atlas Universal Planeta (Spain) has a section "Flags of the World", two full-colored plates at the end of the book. For Macedonia, it shows a red flag with a yellow lion shifted near the hoist.

Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 22 June 2004

This flag has never been official but was used by the VMRO-DPMNE party.

Jovan Jonovski (President of the Macedonian Heraldry Society), 24 June 2004

Proposal?

"Proposal" shown in a flag book - Image by António Martins, 19 February 1999

The book Flaggen und Wappen der Welt, by Karl-Heinz Hesmer [hes92] shows a quite unusual flag for Macedonia. I suppose that it was one of several proposals between the "Sun of Vergina" flag and the current flag.
It is approximatively a 3:5 red and black unequally stripped flag with a red square canton covering the three upper stripes charged with a twenty pointed yellow device, that could be the "Sun of Vergina", too.

António Martins, 19 February 1999