Banner o Luxembourg

Banner ratio: 3:5

Banner ratio: 1:2

The banner o Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuerger Fändel, German: Flagge Luxemburgs, French: Drapeau du Luxembourg) consists o three horizontal stripes, red, white an blue, an can be in 1:2 or 3:5 ratio. It wis first uised atween 1845 an 1848 an offeecially adoptit on Juin 23, 1972. Luxembourg haed nae banner till 1830, when patriots wur urged tae display the naitional colors. The banner wis defined as a horizontal tricolor o reid, white, an blue in 1848, but it wis no offeecially adoptit till 1972. The tricolor banner is amaist identical tae that o the Netherlands, except that it is langer an its blue stripe is a lichter shade. The reid, white, an blue colorin wis derived frae the Grand Duke's coat o airms, which dates frae the 13t century.

Description

Accordin tae the Règlement Grand-Ducal frae Julie 27, 1993, the proper colors are:

Scheme	Red	Blue
Pantone	032 C	299 C
CMYK	0, 90, 85, 0	85, 20, 0, 0
*White are as normal. *Source: http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1993/0731609/0731609.pdf#page=3 Archived 2006-03-25 at the Wayback Machine

History

The colours o the Banner o Luxembourg wur first adoptit aroond 1830 durin the Belgian Revolution. Thay wur probably derived frae the coonts, dukes an later grand-dukes o Luxembourg's coat o airms which in turn wis derived frae the combination o the dukes o Limbourg's Lion an the supposed striped banner o the early coonts o Luxembourg. The three-colored horizontal design wis fixed on Juin 12, 1845.

It teuk till Juin 23, 1972 afore a law wis passed regulatin the banner o Luxembourg. The same law an aa prescribed ensign an roondel for aircraft an ships registered in Luxembourg.

Ane important clarification brocht bi this law wis that the colour blue wis defined as bein a vera bricht blue, in contrast tae the banner o the Netherlands (exactly the same design, but the Dutch banner uises daurk blue an a less oblong shape).

The heraldric blazon for the banner is per fess Gules an Azure, a fess Argent.

Ensign

Banner ratio 5:7

The reid lion is the offeecial ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg. It is uised for river an sea shippin, as well as for aviation. This banner is based on the Coat o airms o Luxembourg an is uised as the ensign tae avoid the possibility o Luxembourg's ensign bein confused for that o the Netherlands. Ten white an blue stripes serve as the field for a reid lion wi a yellae tongue an croun. The proper ratio for this ensign is 5:7.

The Réglement Grand-Ducal o Julie 27, 1993 defined the ensign's colors as:

• Red: Pantone 032 c
• White:
• Blue: Pantone 299 c
• Yellae: Pantone 116c

Roondel

The roondel o Luxembourg is seen on the AWACS aircraft uised bi NATO.

Banner discussion

On October 5, 2006, MP Michel Wolter introduced a legislative proposition tae replace the current reid-white-blue naitional banner wi the reid lion ensign. He argued that the current banner wis commonly ramfeeselt wi that o the Netherlands an that the reid lion on the ither haund wis mair popular, mair aesthetic an o greater historic value. Wolter an aa claimed he haed personally discussed the matter wi some three hunder fowk, maist o whom expressed thair support for his initiative.

On the ither haund, mony naitional politeecians (includin leadin members o Wolter's awn CSV) an VIPs hae expressed astonishment in the local media concernin baith the timing an necessity for such a chynge. The anerlie poleetical pairty tae express support for Wolter's initiative wis the naitionalist an populist ADR. On October 24, 2006 a local initiative cried Initiativ Roude Léiw (Initiative Reid Lion) held a press conference explainin thair intention tae support Wolter's project on a non-partisan basis. Thair first actions wad include distribution o reid lion bumper stickers, a petition an a poll.

A formal obstacle for replacin the banner coud be that the neighbourin Belgian province o Luxembourg uises a coat o airms seemilar tae the reid lion banner on thair awn banner. The German state o Hesse an aa incorporates a somehou seemilar design on its coat o airms, which is in turn featurt on the state banner, tho the ceevil banner bears nae resemblance.

See an aa

• Leet o banners o Luxembourg

Freemit airtins

• (in Inglis) Luxembourg at Flags of the World