History
The Vatican traditionally used a yellow and red flag, the traditional colors of the Roman Senate and the Roman people.
In 1808 Pope Pius VII ordered the Vatican's Noble Guard and other troops to replace the yellow and red colors with yellow and white. The only exception were the troops that were serving in the French armies under the command of General Sestio A. F. Miollis, who was allowed to keep using the old colors.
In 1824 the Vatican's merchant navy used a white a yellow flag, but they were set in diagonal. In 1848 tri-color ties (white, red and green) were added to the merchant navy.
In 1849 Pope Pius IX returned from his exile in Gaeta and ordered the colors to be disposed vertically and replaced the ties with the papal coat of arms.
On February 11, 1929, Pope Pius XI signed the Lateran Treaty with Italy, recognizing the current flag as the legal flag of a foreign state, thus protecting it under Article 299 of the Italian Criminal Code. It was ratified by the Italian parliament in June 7, 1929.
Read more about this topic: Flag Of Vatican City
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)