Sunday 17 March 2013

441 - The Swiss Flag

Card no 441 - Elena (CH-160549) 
The Swiss Flag 
Country Card Sent From: Switzerland 
Place that Card Sender Lives: Neuchâtel 
Date Received: 11th March 2013 
Distance Travelled: 611 miles 
Time Taken: 5 days 

The flag of Switzerland consists of a red flag with a white cross (a bold, equilateral cross) in the centre. It is square - one of only two square sovereign-state flags, the other being the flag of Vatican City. (The civil and state ensign, used by Swiss ships and boats, has the more common proportions of 2:3.) Use of the white cross as a military ensign (attached to the cantonal flags in the form of strips of linen) has been used in the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 14th century, but the modern design of a white cross suspended in a square red field was introduced only during the Napoleonic period, first used in 1800 during the Hundred Days by general Niklaus Franz von Bachmann, and was introduced as official national flag in 1889.

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