The flag of Bulgaria was first adopted on April 16th, 1879, this was immediately after the Russo-Turkish war, 1877-1878. Article 23 of the Tarnovo Constitution of 1879 says “The Bulgarian people’s flag is three-coloured and consists of white, green and red colours, placed horizontally.”
The Bulgarian flag is a tri-color type flag consisting of equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red. In previous versions of the flag from 1948 – 1990 the national emblem was displayed in the white stripe at the top left (hoist side), this has since been removed.
In 1991, following the collapse of communism, article 166 of the new Constitution of Bulgaria said “The flag of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be a tricolour: white, green, and red from top, placed horizontally.”
The first use of the current white, green and red colors is said to be in 1861 – 1862. The Bulgarian Legia, a Serbian organization formed by Bulgarian emigrants used these colors. The first flag was made by S. Paraskevov in 1877 and was presented to Bulgarian and Russian troops as they waged war against Turkey.
This flag had a lion on it and the inscription “Bulgaria” in the centre, consisting of Cyrillic Alphabet characters. This flag known as the “Banner of Braila” still exists to this day and is available to view in the War Museum in Sofia. The image to the left shows the “Banner of Braila”. The following year, 1878 saw the victory of Bulgarian forces and Bulgarian indepence from the Ottoman empire. The Bulgarian Constitution of 1878 confirmed the tri-color flag as the national flag, but the flag was confirmed with no lion and no “Bulgaria” inscription.
The following color references are those required to create the exact colors of the Bulgarian flag:
White – Whiteness is greater than 80%, web color – #FFFFFF
Green – Pantone – 17-5936 and web color – #00966E
Red – Pantone – 18-1664 and web color – #D62612.
