Flag of Estonia

Three equal horizontal bands of blue, black and white.

What the flag means

The colours have no official meaning. The Government Office notes that blue is commonly linked to the sky, black to the soil and white to snow and hope.

History

The Estonian Students' Society chose blue, black and white as its colours in 1881, and its first flag was consecrated at Otepää on 4 June 1884. By the declaration of independence in February 1918 the tricolour was already known as the national flag. The Provisional Government made it the state flag on 21 November 1918, and parliament passed a State Flag Act in 1922. Banned under Soviet rule from 1940, it was raised again on the Pikk Hermann tower in Tallinn on 24 February 1989 and formally restored on 7 August 1990.

The first flag of 1884 survives. In 1940 Karl Aun hid it and left a copy in its place. Recovered in December 1991, it went on display at the Estonian National Museum in 2016.

Flags of Estonia's neighbours

Sources

Wikipedia: Flag of Estonia
Government Office of Estonia: Estonian Flag Day – 4 June

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.