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# Liechtenstein

## Fürstentum Liechtenstein; Principality of Liechtenstein

Last modified: 2026-08-29 by martin karner
Keywords: liechtenstein | coat of arms: inescutcheon | bonnet | crown (golden) | crown (colored) | harpy | eagle (virgin) | europe | efta | council of europe | small state games | german |
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3:5 image by Zoltan Horvath, 29 June 2024
(Flagge and Fahne)

- Historical facts about Liechtenstein
- Description of the Flag
  - Design of the Bonnet
  - Colours
- Supposed Color Meanings
- Alternative Flag Shapes
  - Banner
  - Wimpel (Pennant)
- Coat of Arms
  - Greater Arms
  - Lesser Arms
- The 2004 Identity Campaign

- History of the National Flag of Liechtenstein
- Variants of the Flag
- Princely and Government Flags of Liechtenstein
- Sporting Flags
- Liechtenstein Flag Laws
- Flags on Stamps of Liechtenstein
- Clickable Map of Liechtenstein
- Subnational Flags of Liechtenstein

See also:

- Clickable map of Europe
- Regio Bodensee
- PRINCELY CORONET, HONOUR POINT in Dictionary of Vexillology
- Das Wappen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (by Hugo Gerard Ströhl, 1913, German)
- Die Flagge von Liechtenstein (by Ottfried Neubecker/Archivum Heraldicum 74/1960, German)
- Zum Staatswappen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein (by Fritz Brunner/Gregor T. Brunner, 1983, German)
- Heraldik auf den Briefmarken Liechtensteins – eine nostalgische Betrachtung (by Johannes Engels, 2024, German | French/Italian abstract)
- Legal regulations and depictions of the flags and coat of arms of Liechtenstein (gesetze.li, German)
- Timeline and history of Liechtenstein (liechtensteinusa.org [retrieved])

## Historical facts about Liechtenstein

On 23 January 1719, Charles VI made a principality of the county of Vaduz (now Unterland) and the seigniory of Schellenberg (now Oberland), which had been united since 1434. The first prince was Anton-Florian of Liechtenstein. The castle of Liechtenstein is located in Mödling, in Lower-Austria. After the dissolution of the Holy German Empire in 1806, the principality became sovereign, joined the Rhine Confederation (1807–1814) and later the German Confederation (1815–1866). A customs union treaty was signed with Austria in 1852 and denounced in 1918 following the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1866, the Prag peace between Austria and Prussia confirmed the independence of Liechtenstein, which definitively disbanded its army. The Constitution of 5 October 1921 replaced the absolute monarchy by a constitutional one. Diplomatic, customs, economic and postal union treaties were signed with Switzerland between 1919 and 1923. Liechtenstein joined Council of Europe in 1978, United Nations Organization in 1990, European Free Trade Association in September 1991, and European Economic Area in December 1992.
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

## Description of the Flag

Blue over red bicolour with golden princely bonnet in canton.
Željko Heimer, 12 May 2002

The German text of the 1982 law prescribes four kinds of flag:

- Flagge (a flag hoisted on a building or a mast), horizontally divided, 3:5
- Fahne (a flag to be carried), horizontally divided, 3:5
- Banner, a long banner hoisted vertically, 4:1, with the same use as the Flagge and the Banner
- Wimpel, a small triangular fanion.

Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

In the official flag book of Liechstenstein [kra82], the shade of blue is the same for all flags, and the prince and government flags also 3:5, just like the national flag.
Pascal Vagnat, 12 October 1999

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012) 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. Liechtenstein: PMS 293 blue, 185 red, 109 yellow and black. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees anti-clockwise, but the crown remains upright and in the top left corner.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012

### Design of the Bonnet

In Neubecker’s Flaggenbuch 1939 [neu92], the details of the bonnet are somewhat different than those in the Album 2000 [pay00]: the design is simpler — without the perls and hatching of “inner” part.
Željko Heimer, 12 May 2002

The bonnet was slightly modified on 4 June 1957 and modernized on 30 June 1982.
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

Interestingly, Baert [bat00] calls the crown “bonnet de prince” and not couronne.
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001

### Colours

I found legislations as follows:

- Law on the Coat of Arms, Colors, Seal and Emblems of the Principality of Liechtenstein, issued in 1992 with color illustrations: https://www.gesetze.li/konso/1982.058
- Decree issued 1984 about Flying the Flag with color illustrations: https://www.gesetze.li/chrono/1984.26
- Decree issued 1985 about on the Management and Use of the State Coat of arms with color illustrations: https://www.gesetze.li/chrono/1985.18

Other sources for colors:

- The Flag Manual – Beijing 2008 gives Pantone color values: PMS185C (red), PMS109C (yellow), PMS 29C (blue), and PMS Black
- The Album des Pavillons, 2000, [pay00] (Corr. No. 6.) gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems:
  Blue: Pantone 280c, CMYK 100-70-0-10
  Red: Pantone 186 c, CMYK 0-90-80-5
  Yellow: Pantone 116 c, CMYK 0-10-95-0
- Flags and Anthems Manual London, 2012, [loc12] gives Pantone colors: PMS 293 (blue), PMS 185 (red), PMS 109 (yellow), and PMS Black
- The Album des Pavillons, 2023, already specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems.
  Blue: Pantone 280c, CMYK 100-89-27-8, RGB 0-38-127
  Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 10-100-74-2, RGB 210-16-52
  Yellow: Pantone 116c, CMYK 0-19-93-2, RGB 255-206-0
- Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone system: PMS 186C (red), PMS 286C (blue), PMS 116C (yellow), and PMS Black
- Wikipedia gives a construction sheet and gives color values as follows:
  Blue: RAL 5010, CMYK 100-70-0-50, Hex #002780, RGB 0-39-128
  Red: RAL 3020, CMYK 0-96-84-19, Hex #CF0921, RGB 207-9-33
  Yellow: RAL 1016, CMYK 0-15-77-0, Hex #FFD93B, RGB 255-217-59
  Black: RAL 9005, CMYK 0-0-0-100, Hex #000000, RGB 0-0-0
- Flag Color Codes gives color values as follows:
  Black: Hex #000000, RGB 0-0-0, CMYK 0-0-0-100, Pantone Process Black C, RAL 9005
  Blue: Hex #003DA5, RGB 0-61-165, CMYK 100-76-0-9, Pantone 293, RAL 5005
  Red: Hex #E4002B, RGB 228-0-43, CMYK 0-100-89-0, Pantone 185, RAL 3026
  Yellow: Hex #FFD100, RGB 255-209-0, CMYK 0-5-100-0, Pantone 109, RAL 2007

Zoltan Horvath, 17 June 2024

## Supposed Color Meanings

In 1937, the head of government Joseph Hoop presented officially the new flag and gave a symbolic interpretation of its colours: «Blue is the colour of a radiant sky, red the colour of the embers in the fireplace during evening gatherings; gold of the crown shows that our people, our country and our princely House are united in heart and spirit.»
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

## Alternative Flag Shapes

### Banner

image by Željko Heimer/Martin Karner

The German text of the 1982 law prescribes four kinds of flag:

- Flagge (a flag hoisted on a building or a mast), horizontally divided, 3:5
- Fahne (a flag to be carried), horizontally divided, 3:5
- Banner, a long banner hoisted vertically, 4:1, with the same use as the Flagge
- Wimpel, a small triangular fanion.

Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

Liechstenstein has a 4:1 banner, two vertical stripes blue and red, and the crown appears on it, in the canton, and is still “horizontally”.
Pascal Vagnat, 13 April 1999

The size of the bonnet is given in Neubecker’s Flaggenbuch [neu92] as 40×50 cm, and the distance from top to the top of the bonnet is 55 cm. Of course, the bonnet’s vertical axis is centered on the blue stripe.
Željko Heimer, 12 May 2002

See also: Hanging Flags Vertically

### Wimpel (Pennant)

image by Željko Heimer/Martin Karner

## Coat of Arms

### Greater Arms

image by Zoltan Horvath, 29 June 2024
(adapted from here)

♦ photo

Translated from www.liechtenstein.li/lisite/html/liechtenstein/index.jsp?treeId=ZALFAK_de_DE&topicId=0.9&sync=true [not retrievable, other site here]:

> - Shield quartered: first, or an eagle sable, crowned and armed gold, [langued gules], charged with a trefoiled crescent and a cross formy all argent (Silesia);
> - second, fessy of eight or and sable, a crancelin in bend vert (Kuenringe);
> - third, per pale argent and gules (Troppau);
> - fourth, or a virgin eagle [approx. a crowned harpy] sable, crowned and armed or, headed argent (East Friesland or Emden).
> - On a point azure, a [hunting] horn or (Jaegerndorf).
> - Inescutcheon: per fess or and gules (Princely House of Liechtenstein).
> - Mantle: prince’s mantle purpure [it looks gules though] doubled ermine,
> - crowned with a prince’s crown [rimmed in ermine].

The “virgin eagle” (Jungfrauadler) appeared first in the Nuremberg coat of arms and initially depicted an eagle with a crowned king’s head. Through the centuries and particularly from the 15 century onwards it adopted more and more female-like features.
Santiago Dotor, 23 December 1998

The greater State arms are also the dynastic arms of the princely House. They have remained unchanged since 1623 and were confirmed as greater State arms by the law of 4 June 1957. The lesser arms were established by the law of 4 June 1957. Per fess or and gules (i.e. the escutcheon of the greater arms), topped with the bonnet de prince.
Ivan Sache, 1 March 2001, translating and adapting Roger Baert in [bat00]

♦ Description of the Greater Arms source (Based on law from 18.9.1982, German)

### Lesser Arms

image by Zoltan Horvath, 29 June 2024

Liechstenstein also has the lesser coat of arms, consisting of yellow over red shield topped with princely bonnet in proper colours.
Željko Heimer, 12 May 2002

[⚓]

Photos:
♦ Flag with princely colours source
♦ Banner with princely colours source

## The 2004 Identity Campaign

image by Pascal Vagnat

A very nice person in the Liechtenstein Government Press Office gave me this reference [retrieved]. As has been pointed out: this is not a flag replacement but in terms of symbolism it might be of interest.
Marten Gallagher, 5 July 2004

Everything about the new “corporate identity” of Liechtenstein is here [not retrievable] to read (my translation):

> The new image of Liechtenstein doesn’t replace the official state coat of arms or state flag. It completes them. It was created, in order to give to Liechtenstein a larger perception and recognizing effect. An appearance, which addresses to humans personally and develops relations, something that most official state symbols cannot obtain.

That might be the aubergine () effect …

Pascal Vagnat, 4 July 2004