Flags with a Coat of Arms

About Coat of Arms

A coat of arms on a flag is unusual: most modern vexillologists discourage the practice because heraldic detail is hard to read at distance and expensive to reproduce in fabric. But coats of arms remain on national flags wherever a country wants its banner to carry the full weight of its history. Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Egypt, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, San Marino, Andorra, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Moldova, and several others all carry detailed arms — sometimes the full arms, sometimes a simplified shield. Coats of arms on flags often replaced earlier monarchic emblems during republican transitions: the new state kept the shape of the heraldic tradition while replacing kings with eagles, suns or condors. They are an acquired taste in flag design, but they also concentrate centuries of national symbolism into a single image.