No alterations may be carried out on the coat of arms and the flag of the Republic of Croatia. In exceptional cases, if so specified by a statute or another act of a legal entity, parts of the coat of arms or the flag of the Republic of Croatia may be used as an integral part of other emblems or logos, under the condition that this is not harmful to the reputation and dignity of the Republic of Croatia. The coat of arms, the flag and the national anthem of the Republic of Croatia may be freely used in art and music, as well as for educational purposes, under the condition that this is not harmful to the reputation and dignity of the Republic of Croatia.

Coat of Arms of the Republic of Croatia

The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is the historical Croatian coat of arms in the shape of a shield with a checkered pattern of twenty-five alternating red and white (silver) fields, with the first field in the upper left corner of the shield being red. A five-pointed crown arches above the shield, between its upper left and upper right corners. The crown is made of five smaller shields with historical Croatian coats of arms in the following order, from left to right: the oldest known Croatian coat of arms, coats of arms of the Dubrovnik Republic, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia. The original coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is kept at the Croatian Sabor and all other coats of arms are its replicas.

The Flag of the Republic of Croatia

The flag of the Republic of Croatia consists of three bands of red, white and blue with the coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia in the center. The length of the flag is twice its width. The bands of color are laid horizontally in the following order from the top: red, white and blue. Each color fills one-third of the width of the flag. The Croatian coat of arms is placed at the center of the flag in such manner that the upper part of the coat (the crown) extends into the red field and the lower part of the coat of arms extends into the blue field. The central point of the coat of arms is at the intersection of the diagonals of the flag.

The National Anthem of The Republic of Croatia

The national anthem of the Republic of Croatia is "Our Beautiful Homeland".

Lyrics were written by Antun Mihanović. It was published for the first time in Danica in 1835 under the title "Croatian Homeland". In 1846 Josip Runjanin, a military cadet in Glina, set the lyrics to music. His tune was allegedly first harmonized and transcribed by V. Lichtenegger in 1861.

Entitled "Our Beautiful", it was first performed as the Croatian national anthem in 1891 during the exhibition of the Croatian-Slavonian Economic Association in Zagreb.

Our Beautiful Homeland Lyrics

Our beautiful homeland,
O so fearless and gracious,
Our fathers' ancient glory,
May you be blessed forever.
Dear, you are our only glory,
Dear, you are our only one,
Dear, we love your plains,
Dear, we love your mountains.
Sava, Drava, keep on flowing,
Danube, do not lose your vigor,
Deep blue sea, tell the world,
That a Croat loves his homeland.
Whilst his fields are kissed by sunshine,
Whilst his oaks are whipped by wild winds,
Whilst his dear ones go to heaven,
Whilst his live heart beats.