Flag of Costa Rica | Colors, Facts & History
The flag of Costa Rica features five horizontal stripes in blue, white, and red. From top to bottom, the stripes are arranged blue, white, red, white, and blue. The central red stripe is twice as wide as each of the other four stripes.
Key takeaways
- Costa Rica’s flag has five horizontal stripes in blue, white, red, white, and blue, with the central red stripe twice as wide as the others; the state version of the flag also includes the national coat of arms.
- Adopted in 1848, the design was proposed by Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno and drew inspiration from the French tricolor.
- Blue represents the sky, white symbolizes peace, and red honors those who died for freedom.
Facts about the flag of Costa Rica
The blue, white, and red flag of Costa Rica has been in use since 1848. The design was proposed by Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno, the wife of President José María Castro Madriz.
Symbolism
A supporter of revolutionary France, Pacífica Fernández Oreamuno proposed adding a red stripe to Costa Rica’s existing blue-and-white flag. The new design drew inspiration from the French tricolor and the spirit of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
Officially, the blue in the flag represents the country’s sky, the white represents peace, and the red represents the blood of those who fell for freedom.
The state version of the flag, known as the Pabellón Nacional, bears Costa Rica’s national coat of arms. The emblem depicts three volcanoes, representing the country’s three main mountain ranges, and seven stars, one for each of Costa Rica’s provinces. Use of the Pabellón Nacional is restricted to specified state institutions and official ceremonies.
Flag of Costa Rica state version
Similar flags
The flag of Thailand also features five horizontal stripes in blue, white, and red, including a wide central stripe. However, the colors appear in a different order.
On the Costa Rican flag, the stripes are arranged blue, white, red, white, and blue from top to bottom. On the Thai flag, they are arranged red, white, blue, white, and red.
Flag of Costa Rica vs flag of Thailand
Colors
The hex codes for the colors of the flag of Costa Rica are:
- Blue – #001489
- White – #FFFFFF
- Red – #DA291C
The RGB values for the color of the flag of Costa Rica are:
- Blue – 0,20,137
- White – 255,255,255
- Red – 218,41,28
Flag of Costa Rica emoji
The flag of Costa Rica emoji shows up as the two-letter country code CR when displayed on certain platforms (e.g., Windows). However, you can copy and paste these letters into platforms that do support country flag emojis like WhatsApp Web, where the emoji will display correctly.
Frequently asked questions about the flag of Costa Rica
- How old is the flag of Costa Rica?
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The flag of Costa Rica has been in use since 1848.
Minor changes to the coat of arms that appears on the state version of the flag (Pabellón Nacional) were made three times during the 20th century.
For more facts about the flag of Costa Rica, ask Quillbot’s free AI Chat.
- Why are there two versions of the flag of Costa Rica?
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If you’ve noticed that there are two versions of the flag of Costa Rica, this is probably because there is a state version (Pabellón Nacional) featuring the national coat of arms. This version is restricted to specific official uses.
Ask Quillbot’s free AI Chat for more facts about the flag of Costa Rica.
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