The flag of Catalonia is a
flag of heraldic origin, the result of the transfer of the symbol on the coat
of arms of the Counts of Barcelona to a cloth backing. The counts’ flag, pennant
or standard may well have existed prior to the coat of arms. We have no documentary
evidence of this until the 13th century, but it is one of the oldest in Europe.
At first, the bars of the coat of arms were either represented on the flag in a vertical or horizontal position. In the end, the horizontal position prevailed, becoming the official flag of the Catalan nation: four red bars alternating with five yellow ones, all of the same width.
The flag acquired official status with the Catalan Statute of Autonomy, a constitutive State law passed in 1979.
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