Åland Islands (original) (raw)

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Åland, Ahvenanmaa

[ [Flag of the Åland Islands] ](../images/a/ax.gif)(17:26) image by Zoltan Horvath, 30 March 2024

ISO Code: AX ALA 248; FI-AL
FIPS 10-4 Code: FI
MARC Code: fi
IOC Code: FIN
Status: autonomous area of Finland
Finnish Name: Ahvenanmaa
Language: Swedish is the language used in the Åland Islands

Description of the flag
Dimensions of the flag
History of the flag
Usage of the flag
Official Colors
Provincial Banner of Arms
- Blazon
Communes (Municipalities)

Åland Islands: Index of Pages

Related Pages:

External links

official flag images from aland.ax

Description of the flag

The flag of the Åland Islands (Finnish: Ahvenanmaa, Swedish: Åland) is blue with a red Scandinavian cross fimbriated yellow.
Mark Sensen, 27 November 1995

I am looking at some of the national flag images listed and found some more that will need a resize but also fixing due to specifications newly released or any minor details (that he hasn't touched upon yet).
This brings me to the Aland Islands; while I was still active in Wikipedia, I was asked to redo the image of the flag with not only the specifications andusage of flag
but also match the Pantone colors (which is confirmed by legislation).
Zachary Harden, 02 May 2016

Dimensions of the flag

The dimensions of the flag of the Åland Islands are 16:3:4:3:26 horizontally and 12:3:4:3:12 vertically.
Mark Sensen, 25 September 1995
James Dignan, 26 September 1995

History of the flag

When Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917, the Åland islanders feared for their Swedish language and culture and mobilized for a reunion with Sweden. In the Middle Ages the Åland archipelago was a province of Sweden. Ecclesiastically the islands belonged to the diocese of Abo (Turku) in Finland, and so the province was lost to Russia in 1809. The issue was finally settled by the League of Nations in 1921. The islands were to be a part of Finland, but they were to enjoy autonomy.

However, a flag was not granted until 1954. Unofficially a blue-yellow-blue triband had been in use from 1922. Several versions existed, the dominating one had equal horizontal bands. Another version had a narrower band of yellow - as when the vertical yellow stripe in the cross on the Swedish flag is taken away.

Blue and yellow were naturally the favourite colours, being both the colours of Sweden and the colours of the provincial coat of arms (a golden deer on blue), Therefore, when preparing a design for adoption in the early 1950s, the favoured design was a Scandinavian cross design of a blue field and a yellow and blue cross - that is, the flag of Sweden with an extra blue cross in the middle. This proposal was rejected by the president of Finland as too similar to the Swedish flag. Alternative designs were the old blue-yellow-blue triband, the flag of Finland with an extra yellow cross in the middle, and a design where a red cross was added to the Swedish pattern.

The outcome of the process was the adoption of the blue-yellow- red Scandinavian cross design. This flag was first hoisted on the town hall in the provincial capital Mariehamn 3 April 1954. The red colour was controversial at first, because people felt it lacked a local tradition. However, the colours can be said to come from the provincial coat of arms (blue and yellow - also Sweden's colours) and the colours of the coat of arms of Finland (red and yellow). Also, experts in heraldry have found out that at one point a Swedish king hoisted a flag of exactly the same design.

Source: Erik Tudeer and Lars-Øyvind Liljestrom: Ålands flagga, [tla94] Mariehamn: Nordens Institut på Åland, 1994, ISBN: 952-90-5534-X (40 pages, 10 colour illustrations mostly of proposed designs)
Jan Oskar Engene, 22 October 1995

Usage of the flag

According to current (1992) legislation pertaining to the flag, the proportions are set as 17:26. The parts are defined as 6-1.5- 2-1.5-6 (hoist), 8-1.5-2-1.5-13 (fly). The colours are described as medium blue, golden yellow and (simply) red. Official flag days are Åland Flag Day, the last Sunday of April, and Autonomy Day, 9 June. There is also a provision against the misuse of the flag.

The 1992 flag law also requires vessels operated by the government of Åland to use the Åland flag. This means that the Åland flag is also the state ensign within the Åland autonomy context. One can then say that the Åland flag is now filling the four functions it can possibly fill: Civil and state flag and civil and state ensign civil and state land and sea graphic

Åland is a demilitarized area.
Jan Oskar Engene, 14 December, 1998

The revised autonomy act (1991) for the Åland Islands gave the autonomy authorities increased powers to pass legislation concerning the use of the Åland flag, especially as concerns its use at sea. Making use of these powers, the legislative assembly of Aland passed a flag law, approved by the president of Finland on 3. August 1992 and published in Mariehamn 13. August 1992, that made the Aland flag into a civil ensign. The flag act took effect on 1. January 1993. The use of the Åland civil ensign is optional, and thus only an alternative to the Finnish civil ensign for vessels belonging in the islands.

Further, the 1992 flag law gave the Åland government the power to introduce a special ensign for leisure vessels. This was done on 17. September 1998.
Jan Oskar Engene, 24 May 1999

Official Colors

Authorities in Åland recently officially specified the colours of the Åland flag, previously only described in law as medium blue, red and yellow. According to Province Regulations No. 15, 2004, issued in Mariehamn on 8 April 2004, the flag's colours are specified in three different systems:

Natural Colour System
Medium blue = 3065-R90B
Yellow = 0580-Y10R
Red = 1085-Y90R
Pantone Matching System
Medium blue = 2945C and 300U
Yellow = 116C and 109U
Red = 186C and 185U
CMYK
Medium blue = C100-M54-Y2-K0
Yellow = C0-M16-Y100-K0
Red = C6-M100-Y100-K0

The provincial regulation on the matter can be found here (in Swedish): http://www.ls.aland.fi/.composer/upload/modules/lagar/afs2004_nr15.pdf

Jan Oskar Engene, 19 May 2004

The link in Jan Oskar Engene's post above gives a color specification from Province Regulation No. 15, 2004; another source can be found here. You can read the Province Regulation No. 41, 1992 about the Åland Flag on page 17, and the 2004 regulation is on the next page. Later gives the color specification in three colour systems: Natural Colour System, PMS, and CMYK.

The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] only illustrates the flag, it seems to be correct, but doesn't give colour specification.
The Album des Pavillons 2023 [d2s23] already specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems.
Blue: Pantone 287c, CMYK 100-84-26-6, and RGB 0-53-128
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 14-100-79-4, and RGB 200-16-46
Yellow: Pantone 123c, CMYK 0-24-86-0, and 255-199-44
(Red is identical with official values, but other two is different, I don't know the reason, there is not any reference.)
Olympic Flag Manuals don't contain Åland Islands, while she is not member of IOC, nor IPC.
Vexilla Mundi gives colours in Pantone system as follows: Blue 2945C, Red 186C and Yellow 116C (they are identical with those in the regulation – coated colours).
Wikipedia gives values in four systems, RGB, Hex, Pantone and CMYK (The last two values are the same which the regulation defines).
Blue: RGB 0-100-174, Hex: #0064AD
Yellow: RGB 255-211-0, Hex: #FFD300
Red: RGB: 219-15-22, Hex: #DA0E15
These are equivalent values of CMYK colours.

Zoltan Horvath, 30 March 2024

[ [Åland Island Banner of Arms] ](../images/a/ax-boa.gif)image by Zoltan Horvath, 30 March 2024

The flag is a banner of the arms; arms granted in 1560, present blazon adopted on 18 April 1951.

Although the cross flag is most widely used, also officially, this provincial banner of the arms is (even if almost forgotten) still official.
António Martins, 24 October 2000

Blazon

Official blazon in Swedish: "I blått fält en gående hjort av guld. Skölden krönes med grevskapets krona."

Official blazon in Finnish: "Sinisessä kentässä kävelevä kultainen saksanhirvi. Kruunu: kreivikunnan kruunu."

Blazoned in English: "Azure, a stag passant or. The shield's crown is a count's crown."
English blazon by Lewis A. Nowitz, 13 March 2002

Communes (Municipalities)

The following municipalities are located in the Åland Islands.

Åland Islands Communes Source: Eurostat, 2003 (Note: links in the table below go to the municipality's homepage)

Name	Municipal Code
Official	Finnish	Swedish
Brändö		Brändö	035
Eckerö		Eckerö	043
Finström		Finström	060
Föglö		Föglö	062
Geta		Geta	065
Hammarland		Hammarland	076
Jomala		Jomala	170
Kökar		Kökar	318
Kumlinge		Kumlinge	295
Lemland		Lemland	417
Lumparland		Lumparland	438
Mariehamn	Maarianhamina	Mariehamn	478
Saltvik		Saltvik	736
Sottunga		Sottunga	766
Sund		Sund	771
Vårdö		Vårdö	941

The newspaper webpage at https://www.alandstidningen.ax/ledare/ensidig-bild-kommunerna (requires login) reported on 29 October 2016 emblems for 16 communities on the Åland Islands:

[ [Åland Island Banner of Arms] ](../images/a/ax-boa.gif)

It is not know if these are used on flags.
Valentin Poposki, 8 September 2019