Legal specification for the shades of the national colors has also changed with time. The shade of red was first legally specified as vermilion by a presidential decree of 13 December 1928.This verbal prescription was replaced with coordinates in the CIE 1976 color space by the Coat of Arms Act of 31 January 1980. The flag of the Grand Duchy of Posen, a Polish-populated autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia created in 1815, was a red-and-white horizontal bicolour. Its colours were taken from the duchy’s coat of arms which consisted of the Prussian Black Eagle with an inescutcheon of the Polish White Eagle. With Germany’s increasingly anti-Polish policy and a rising identification of white and red as Polish national colours, the red-and-white flag of Posen was replaced in 1886 with a white-black-white horizontal triband.

Care should be taken to prevent the flag from touching the ground, floor or water beneath it. It should be also secured from being torn off or falling to the ground and it should not be flown outdoors during a heavy rain, blizzard or very strong wind. When no longer in a fit condition to be used, it should be disposed of in a dignified manner, preferably by cutting it in half so as to separate the colours and then, burning. In practice, however, the restriction is often ignored and the two flags, with and without the coat of arms, are treated as interchangeable. The variant with the coat of arms is particularly often used by the Polonia, or Polish diaspora outside Poland, especially in the United States. That restriction and kind of state monopoly on the use of national symbols during the Communist regime made flying the polish flag a symbol of resistance against the government.

Many national flags have rules around how they can be used, and Poland is no different. Combine the legend of the Polish Eagle With the christening of Poland, and we get theorigin of the colours of Poland’s national flag. The legend states that the first settlers of Poland saw a white eagle landing in front of a red sunset and use that as a sign that they should settle there (in what is present-day Gniezno). Polish national flag over the heads of people gathered at the Castle Square in Warsaw on the day of the Polish Independence Day. Flags in Poland are used according to a customary, rather than legal, flag protocol. Apart from the obligation to treat the flag with due respect, Polish law does not offer a detailed code of correct usage of the Polish flag.

Poland’s official crest is a white eagle with golden beak and talons, its head poised to the right, and set against a red shield. The eagle first appeared on coins minted in the 12th century and subsequently on the heraldic seals of the Piast dynasty. Toward the end of the 13th century, during the reign of Przemyslaw II, the Polish eagle was depicted with a crown. Indonesia and Monaco, in fact, have the same flag as Poland, just inverted. The Coat of Arms Act says thateveryone can use Poland’s flag as long as it’s done respectfully. Interestingly,the ability to use the national colours and fly the Polish flag outside of a holiday was only made legal in 2004.