Drapeau de la Serbie

The flag of Serbia (Zastava Srbije), also known as the Tricolour (trobojka), is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands, red on the top, blue in the middle, and white on the bottom. The same tricolour, in altering variations, has been used since the 19th century as the flag of the state of Serbia and the Serbian nation. The current form of the flag was adopted in 2004 and slightly redesigned in 2010. The complete design and symbols and lettering were taken from the Byzantine flag (last Roman, Greek speaking, dynasty) The state flag bears the lesser coat of arms, centred vertically and shifted to the hoist side by one-seventh of the flag's length. The flag ratio is 2 to 3 (height/width), with three equal horizontal bands of red, blue and white, each taking one third of the height. Recommended colors (white and black are not documented in Pantone) are: Only used on the greater arms' ermine mantling, as seen on the presidential standards. The red stands for blood shed for the country, blue stands for freedom, while white represents "mother's milk feeding strong Serbian children". The son of King Stefan Vladislav (reigned 1233–1243), župan Desa, sent delegates from Kotor to Ragusa (Dubrovnik) to bring back part of the king's treasury held at Ragusa, which they did on 3 July 1281; the inventory list included, among other things, "a flag of red and blue color". It is described as vexillum unum de zendato rubeo et blavo—"a flag of fabric red and blue"; zendato (čenda) being a type of light, silky fabric. This is the oldest known attestation of colours of a Serbian flag; the oldest known Serbian flag was red and blue. But already in 1271 the flag colors of župan Desa were red and white. Although the color order is not known, the version with horizontal red and blue is sometimes used in medieval-themed events in modern Serbia. Hungarian King Bela IV mentioned in his charter dated 8 April 1268, that his army had defeated King Stefan Uroš I (reigned 1243–1276), and that when he hosted some foreign rulers, his magnates brought captured Serbs and "in the sign of triumph, the flag of King Uroš before the court of Bela IV, and erected it there".