Bavaria (Germany)

Bayern, Free State of Bavaria, Freistaat Bayern

Last modified: 2002-09-21 by santiago dotor
Keywords: germany | bavaria | bayern | freistaat bayern | lozengy (white-blue) | coat of arms (lozengy: white-blue) | coat of arms: quartered (lozengy: white-blue) |
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2:3      3:5
both by Marcus Schmöger
Both flags used unofficially since 1945, adopted 14th December 1953

• Description
• Shade of Blue
• Vertical Flags
• Flag Variants
• Flag Legislation
• Coat-of-Arms (Staatswappen)
• Car Flags (Kraftfahrzeugflaggen)
• Historical Flags
• District, County and Municipal Flags (Bezirke-, Landkreis- und Gemeindeflaggen)
• Franconia (Franken)
• Political Parties:
  • Bavarian Party (Bayernpartei / BP)
  • Christian-Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Union / CSU)

See also:

• Germany

Other sites:

• Das Staatswappen (The State Coat-of-Arms, German text only) at the Bavarian Government Official Website
• Bayerische Staatswappen 1623-heute (Bavarian State Coats-of-Arms 1623-nowadays, German text only) by Tobias Ries

Blue-white lozengy of [at least] 21 pieces [was] adopted as alternative 14th December 1953. Illustrated in Smith 1975 p. 227.

Norman Martin, 1998

The number of lozenges is only fixed to a minimum of 21, including the incomplete ones. That means that flags with more lozenges are correct. The shape of the lozenges is not fixed by the law, but the (incomplete) lozenge in the upper corner must be a white one.

Dieter Linder, 12 January 1998

[Both horizontal and vertical flags with blue over white stripes or blue and white lozenges] without arms can be considered official for use as state and civil flag and as civil ensign (on lakes and rivers) [thus ]. The variants with arms are not only unofficial, but strictly speaking illegal. However, the de facto used civil flag is in most cases a lozengy flag with the arms.

Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001

The angle of the lines forming the lozenges is not prescribed. There are many variants available.

Marcus Schmöger, 2 February 2001

There is absolutely no standard for the Bavarian blue. Usually it is a kind of medium pale blue, something like:

RGB 0-128-255

or the like. However, you can also find paler types of blue like:

RGB 0-204-255

or darker types like:

RGB 0-0-204

(FOTW dark blue or B+)

but never as dark as the blue in the British Union Flag for instance, about:

RGB 0-0-102

Marcus Schmöger, 9 March 2001

Editor's note: see also vertical lozengy flags.

Reported c.1970	Oktoberfest 2000 no.1	Oktoberfest 2000 no.2
	3:1	6:1
by Jaume Ollé	by Marcus Schmöger	by Marcus Schmöger

Some vexillological observations during the 2000 Oktoberfest:

1. In front of the Feldherrnhalle ("general's hall") there were two large flagstaffs, one displaying a large Bavarian white-blue striped bicolor, the other a Munich black-yellow striped bicolor (de-by-m3.gif). Both had proportion of about 3:1. At the top of the flagstaffs there were distinctive finials: a lion for Bavaria, a monk for Munich. I guess these flags are among the largest flags in Bavaria.
2. At the Rathaus (town hall) there were very long vertical flags (about 6:1): Bavaria, Germany and Munich.
3. All around the old town of Munich there were groups of flagstaffs installed displaying alternately the Bavarian flag and the Munich flag. The flags used had a proportion of about 3:1 (higher than wide) and consisted of white-blue lozenges or black-yellow lozenges, respectively.
4. The buses and trams displayed a triangular flag white-blue and one black-yellow.

Marcus Schmöger, 6 October 2000

Most official authorities (e.g. the Bavarian ministries) use vertical flags (German and Bavarian) as their official flag on the building. So one could call that 'regular' here in Bavaria.

Marcus Schmöger, 2 February 2001

Staatswappen

Greater Coat-of-Arms / großes bayerisches Staatswappen

Lesser Coat-of-Arms / kleines bayerisches Staatswappen

These are the two versions of the Bavarian coat-of-arms:

• Greater arms (großes bayerisches Staatswappen): quartered shield with inescutcheon and lions as supporters;
• Lesser arms (kleines bayerisches Staatswappen): just the inescutcheon of the greater arms (lozengy of white and blue) with the crown.

Marcus Schmöger, 18 February 2001