Flag of Sri Lanka

Flag Sri Lanka, Banner Sri Lanka
Aspect ratio:
1:2
Vexillological symbol:
Civil flag and merchant flag
Country:
Sri Lanka
Capital:
officially: Sri Jayewardenepura - Kotte (on the outskirts of Colombo, population approx. 100,000); de facto: Colombo (population approx. 1 million)
Size:
65.610 km²
Population:
19.905.165
Continent:
Asia
Languages:
Sinhala and Tamil; lingua franca English
Currency:
Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
accepted at:
16.12.1978

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Text courtesy of Flaggenlexikon.de

Yellow with two faces; the face on the flagpole has two vertical stripes of the same size (green, orange); the face next to it is a large dark red rectangle with a yellow lion holding a sword, there is also a yellow leaf in each of the four corners; the yellow base color of the flag acts as a border around the entire flag as well as the individual faces within the flag.

Meaning

Elements of the flag originate from the Sinhala kingdom of Kandy. Singhala or Sinhala means 'the lion'. The sword symbolizes authority. The golden-yellow border symbolizes Buddhism, which is supposed to protect the country. In 1951, the two vertical stripes (green and orange) were added. Green symbolizes Muslim and orange symbolizes Hindu. When the country changed its name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1972, a leaf was added to each of the four corners of the dark red rectangle. The leaves remind of the tree under which Siddhartha sat when he was enlightened and became Buddha.

Hymn

Composer: ආනන්ද සමරකෝන් (Ananda Samarkone) Songwriter: ආනන්ද සමරකෝන් (Ananda Samarkone) (Sinhala), M. Nallathamby (Tamil)

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