Flag of Hesse

Hesse

"Landesflagge"
Use	Civil flag
Proportion	3:5 (or 1:2)
Adopted	Unknown, believed 1948
Design	A bicolour of red over white.
Landesdienstflagge des Landes Hessen
Use	State flag
Proportion	3:5 (or 1:2)
Adopted	Unknown, believed 1948
Design	The civil flag with the addition of the coat of arms.

The civil flag of Hesse consists of a bicolor of a red top and a bottom white stripe, in the proportion 3:5. The state flag is similar, except it is defaced with the state coat of arms in the centre, and may only be used by government departments and services.

The colours red and white are based on that of the Ludovingian coat of arms, showing a lion with a ninefold horizontal white and red division. The coat of arms was inherited by the House of Hesse upon its split from the Duchy of Thuringia in 1247, and the flag came into use in the early modern Landgraviate of Hesse; the modern Grand Duchy of Hesse used a flag with two red stripes, as did the People's State of Hesse until 1933.

The flag of Thuringia was introduced in 1920, with its formation out of the fragmented Thuringian states (the Duchy of Thuringia had been absorbed into Saxony in 1400), as the reverse of the flag of Hesse.