Last modified: 2023-07-03 by antónio martins
Keywords: dominican republic | republica dominicana | cross (white) | coat of arms: cross | dios patria libertad | liberty | fire | blood | struggle | sacrifice | olive | palm | flag | book: bible | bible | cross: latin (yellow) |
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Quatered with a white cross, first and fourth fields blue, second and third red. Origin of colours is from Haitian flag. It was officially accepted on 1844.11.06.
Željko Heimer, 12 Dec 1995
The flag with arms is not, in fact, merely the State Flag (
) in the way that this is normally meant in South America, but is the National Flag (
), as laid down in the Constitution:
The Constitution of the Dominican Republic
28 November 1966 (last amended 10 August 1994)
Article 95:The National Flag consists of the colours ultramarine blue and vermilion red in alternate quarters, placed in such a way that the blue is towards the upper part of the staff, separated by wide white cross half as wide as the height of one quarter, and bearing in the centre the arms of the Republic. The merchant flag is the same as the National Flag without the coat of arms.
[cp. original]
Christopher Southworth, 11 Aug 2003
War ensign and jack (as of 1939): This is one of the five dominican naval flags in Flaggenbuch (1939-1941) [neu39]. (The others are civil ensign, flag of the Generalissime flag of rear-admiral, head of a flotilla and admiral flag)
Ivan Sache, 10 Apr 1999
This is acording the presidential decree of 1913.
Jaume Ollé, 14 Nov 1998
Adoption dates of the flags and arms is 6 November 1844 for both emblems [merchant ensign and national flag].
Ivan Sache, 18 Nov 2001
The blue is said to stand for Liberty, red for the fire and blood of the independence struggle and the white cross is a symbol of sacrifice.
Dave Martucci, 12 Oct 1999
(The above is indeed a quote of Smith’ Flags and Arms across the World [smi80], repeating Flags through the Ages and Across the World World [smi75b].)
Ivan Sache, 19 Oct 2006
In El National, 17 October 2006, Víctor Martínez mentions the symbolic value of the national flag, whose colours have a specific meaning:
I would have assumed azul ultramar was ultramarine blue, which in US use is about plain blue (
) or dark blue (
). Pictures I’ve seen of the Dom.Rep. flag, including in Album 2000 [pay00], seem to use very dark blue (
).
Joe McMillan, 07 Jan 2002
All Dominican flag images in Album 1995 [pie95] employ a light blue shade, but that was changed on Correction 30 [pay98] to dark blue and should not be significant.
Željko Heimer, 19 Jun 2001
The flag of the Dominican Republic is detailed in the Constitution, and whilst this lays down a width for the cross it does not give a ratio.
Christopher Southworth, 22 Jun 2003
It is remarkable how the legislators are able to write ambigous descriptions when trying to be as precise as possible. In the Constitution, the width of the white cross is described to be «half as wide as the height of one quarter» when it is not quite clear what is meant by the quarter — i.e.. is it one quarter of the flag or one of the coloured quarters?… The first option would make the cross width equal 1/4 of the hoist, i.e., hoistwide division of 3+2+3. The other one would make the cross width equal 1/5 of the hoist, i.e., hoistwise division of 4+2+4.
Željko Heimer, 12 Aug 2003
Kannik [kan56] says: (6+3+6):(10+3+10), making 15:23 (≈0,652).
Ole Andersen, 22 Jun 1998
The construction details are given in the Album [pay00] as (8+4+8):(13+4+13), =2:3 (≈0,667), though the picture does not conform to it (white cross seems wider). Other sources do not agree on the flag ratio, so that e.g. [zna99] and [vdv00] have 5:8 (=0,625); [smi75c] and [smi82] have ≅2:3 (≅0,667).
Željko Heimer, 16 Jun 2001
Christian Fogd Pedersen also gives moist measurements of 8-4-8 but proportions of 15:23.
Christopher Southworth, 12 Aug 2003
José Arias Almánzar, in El Caribe (Santo Domingo), 2 September 2005, reports that a law proposal restricting the use of the national flag has been submitted to the Congress and the Senate on 25 August 2005. The proposal was motivated by the Dominican Academy of History, in order to «give brightness to the national identity in the current difficult situation of the Dominican nation». The proposal shall prohibit the use of the national flag on coffins of people who are not próceres and prohibit its reproduction on clothes, caps and «other dresses which would desecrate its patriotical value». Article 9 of the proposal prohibits the use of a partial or complete representation of the national flag for electoral propaganda and in politics, culture, sports and commerce, or as the distinctive emblem of a private organization. I understand they try to define a State flag and limit its use to State-sponsored event, but it is unfortunately not said whether this would apply also to the flag without the coat of arms in the middle.
Ivan Sache, 04 Sep 2005
In El National, 17 October 2006, Víctor Martínez complains about the national flag of Dominican Republic hoisted over the Palacio Nacional, which has been added a golden border («el color dorado agregado en sus bordes», «un doradito» — I understand this is not a golden fringe). Martínez writes that the addition of the border might have aesthetic reasons but should decrease the symbolic value of the national flag.
Ivan Sache, 19 Oct 2006
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Various sources have the coat of arms of different size within the cross, reaching from height bigger than the cross width to height approximately 2/3 of the cross width.
Željko Heimer, 16 Jun 2001
This emblem is similar to the flag design and shows a bible, a cross of gold, 4 Dominican flags and two spears on a pattern from the flag. there are bracches of olive and palm around the shield and above on a ribbon is the motto "Dios, Patria, Libertad" meaning "God, Fatherland, Liberty". Below the shield is another ribbon bearing the name of the country "República Dominicana".
Dave Martucci, 12 Oct 1999
On the flags page of the Dominican Republic presidential website the arms are quite
The correct spelling of the country name is "República Dominicana" (with acute on "u"), right? Shouldn’t there be an acute over "U" in the arms ribbon as well?
Željko Heimer, 19 Jun 2001
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