Flags and Heraldry
The arms were originally designed for the sarcophagus of Gustav I Vasa around 1580. The arms were adopted also for the Grand Principality, though the position of the "eastern" sword was changed later in the 19th century so that the lion was holding it in his other arm instead of walking over it.
In the 1860s talk about a Finnish flag started in the fennoman movement. In 1863 numerous proposals were presented for a national flag. The two main proposals were flags based on red/yellow and blue/white. The flag proposals never had a chance to be presented to the Diet, so none of them ever became an official flag. However people used different designs for flags of their own choosing. Since 1821, merchant ships were permitted to fly the Russian flag (horizontal white-blue-red tricolor) without a special permit.
Read more about this topic: Grand Duchy Of Finland
Famous quotes containing the words flags and and/or flags:
“Gentlemen, those confederate flags and our national standard are what has made this union great. In what other country could a man who fought against you be permitted to serve as judge over you, be permitted to run for reelection and bespeak your suffrage on Tuesday next at the poles.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)
“Gentlemen, those confederate flags and our national standard are what has made this union great. In what other country could a man who fought against you be permitted to serve as judge over you, be permitted to run for reelection and bespeak your suffrage on Tuesday next at the poles.”
—Laurence Stallings (1894–1968)