The flag of North-Rhine Westphalia is the flag of the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia.
After the establishment of North-Rhine Westphalia in 1946, this flag had been in use since 1948 although it was not formally established until 1953. The plain tricolour is the state's civil flag. Government authorities use the state flag (Landesdienstflagge), where the flag is defaced by the state coat of arms.
The flag is a combination of the two former provinces of Prussia that comprise most of the state: the Rhine Province and Westphalia, which unfortunately can easily be confused with the much older Flag of Hungary and with the plain version (not currently used) of the flag of Iran.
| Flags from preceding Prussian provinces: | |
| Rhine Province (1822–1946) |
Westphalia (1815–1946) |
Famous quotes containing the words flag of, flag and/or north:
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the Somalians were merely another hungry third world people, we sent them guns. Now that they are falling down dead from starvation, we send them troops. Some may see in this a tidy metaphor for the entire relationship between north and south. But it would make a whole lot more sense nutritionally—as well as providing infinitely more vivid viewing—if the Somalians could be persuaded to eat the troops.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)