Flag of Saxony

Both the civil and state flag of the German state of Saxony feature a bicolour of white over green, similar to the Austrian province of Styria although they are historically not related to each other. The state flag is similar to the civil flag, except it is defaced in the centre with the coat of arms of Saxony. The colours of both flags were officially decided as state colours in 1815^[1] in the Kingdom of Saxony. The aristocracy used mostly and in first time the quadrangular version and later the rectangular.

The civil bicolour flag of white over green was used before World War II, and formally abolished in 1935, under the reforms of the Third Reich. It was readopted 1945 when Saxony became a state again, and abolished 1952 under governing reforms of the German Democratic Republic. When Germany was reunited, Saxony became a state again, and so the flag was finally officially readopted in 1991, having been a much used symbol during the demonstrations in the German Democratic Republic in 1989/90.^[2]

The Constitution of the Free State of Saxony defines the "state colors" as simply "white and green", with no further specifications.^[3] On 2 June 1999, the federal cabinet introduced a corporate design for the German government which defined "green" as RGB 0,133,74 or PANTONE® 7731, but it is unclear if these guidelines apply to the states, and in any case, in practice the specific shades can vary wildly, especially in unofficial uses.^[4][5]

The house colours of the old Saxon or Margraviate ruling family of the Wettins were originally yellow and blue. The colours can also be found in the motif of the Landsberg pale as the coat of arms of the Margraviate of Landsberg, the ancestral land of the Wettins. It has found its way into many coats of arms of cities of modern-day Saxony (i.e. Leipzig, Chemnitz, Delitzsch). Since the middle of the 13th century, the black Meissen lion on a golden background has prevailed as a Wettin symbol of power. Flags in today's sense did not exist at that time, if at all, the coat of arms was used as a so-called coat of arms banner.

With the attainment of the Saxon electoral dignity in 1423, the Saxon coat of arms replaced the Meissen lion as the primary symbol of power, often in combination with the electoral swords of the imperial racing flag to symbolize the office of archmarshal. The colours of the electoral flag of Saxony, which was primarily used until 1815, were derived from the Saxon coat of arms. The colours of the coat of arms also originated in Prussia (black and white) or Bavaria (white and blue). The bi- or tricolour colours usually found on flags today did not become established until the end of the 18th century, when the meaning of flags gradually changed from a pure symbol of the monarch to a distinctive sign of the state itself.

Landtag of the Free State of Saxony uses its own flag.

Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the Constitution of the Free State of Saxony guarantees other flags equality alongside the Saxon state flag.^[6]

• Coat of arms of Saxony