Yesterday, exactly 31 years ago, on May 5th, 1992, the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH) accepted the offered solutions for the coat of arms and flag of the RBiH, which officially gave our country its state characteristics.
At the beginning of the 1990s, there was a need for new state symbols to replace the previously communist ones, it was most convenient to go back to the Middle Ages, when the then Medieval Bosnia had heraldic symbols. The goal was to emphasize the renewed Bosnian statehood and emphasize national neutrality.
Born at the dawn of war
By choosing a symbol from the distant past, an effort was made to avoid raising national tensions, which were at their peak at the time. The birth of the new BiH flag began on February 27th, 1991, when the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of BiH (SRBiH), on the proposal of 86 deputies, adopted the Decision to change the Constitution of the SRBiH and to adopt a constitutional law on the name and state symbols of the RBiH.
The working group appointed expert groups composed of eminent scientists who were to determine the appearance and graphic presentation of the new state symbols of the RBiH.
Multiple symbolism
It was proposed that the basic color of the new flag be light blue, modeled after the color of the flag of the United Nations (UN). It was also proposed that it be rectangular in shape and in a ratio of 5:3.
The expert group decided that the new state symbol should be a Lily from the era of the Bosnian Kingdom because it does not represent any special ethnic group in BiH. They also recommended that the origin of the Lily should be based on the endemic Bosnian subspecies that grows on the slopes of the Igman and Sutjeska mountains Lilium bosniacum. Furthermore, it was suggested that the flag spear should end in a stylized lily flower tip instead of the usual warrior spear.
The new symbols were presented to the cultural societies Preporod, Napredak, Prosvjeta, and La Benevolencija, in order to listen to and agree on possible suggestions. All the societies agreed to the proposed solution, except for the Serbian Prosvjeta, which was of the opinion that Serbian symbols must be an integral part of the new flag.
Due to the outbreak of war, the expert subgroup was unable to complete its work. Their proposals were supposed to be subjected to a constitutional procedure, followed by the official declaration of new state features. However, the entire process was suspended because the commission was disbanded. Then Enver Imamovic and Zvonimir Bebek continued their work independently and within 40 days made “cosmetic changes” in which they changed the color of the border of the coat of arms from silver to gold and the basic color of the flag from light blue to white. They also completed the work on the military insignia, where the coat of arms remained the same as the national coat of arms, with the fact that two crossed swords were shown behind the shield. The work was completed at the beginning of May 1992.
The flag was waved in front of the UN
At its session of May 4th, 1992 (Decree No. 02-011-343/92), the Presidency of the RBiH accepted the offered solutions for the coat of arms and flag without any objections, which made these symbols official state symbols, as a temporary solution, while the revised text of the Constitution of RBiH from 1993, Article 7 for the coat of arms and Article 8 for the flag, were adopted as a permanent and final solution.
A little later, on May 22nd, 1992, the hand-sewn flag of the RBiH was waved in front of the building of the UN General Assembly, Klix.ba reports.
