Cross Purposes: The Unique Swiss Flag

2025-05-17 02:06:59

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) “The Swiss flag is a big plus” goes the old joke. It also has several strengths – and quirks – that go far beyond that of resembling an addition sign. This content was published on May 17, 2025 - 11:00 7 minutes

A member of the Swiss Abroad editorial team, I mainly write about Switzerland's most peculiar features and stories. After completing my master's degree in Asian Studies in Geneva (with a detour at Tokyo University and Kyoto University), I worked on the newsdesk at RSI, occasionally collaborating with Presence Switzerland during the Expo in South Korea and Milan. I have been working for SWI swissinfo since 2016.

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An upside-down Swiss flag. Creative Commons CC BY-SA

The only square national flag apart from that of the Vatican City, the Swiss flag has the advantage over its near neighbour of being more versatile: no matter which side you use as a base, it will always be in the right direction. The next time someone mocks the Swiss for having a“square mentality”, you can retort with this bit of trivia.

In addition, the Swiss cross (technically a Greek cross) is an immediately recognisable and minimalist symbol, which also makes it very popular in the world of graphic design, especially when it comes to Swiss StyleExternal link . This achieved international fame in the 1950s and 1960s and is characterised by formal conciseness and conceptual strength. The Swiss cross fits it perfectly; many examples can also be found by browsing the latest version of the Swiss passport.

Swiss crosses in the new biometric passport. Keystone / Christian Beutler

Regarding symbolism, one often hears that the flag's squareness and uniformity is a reminder of neutrality, democracy and freedom and that the four arms of the cross represent the four national languages, distinct but united. However suggestive, these claims have no historical basis.

The first official flag: a tricolour

Things could well have turned out differently. In 1798 Switzerland became a republic, the Helvetic Republic, under French pressure. The Swiss franc was introduced, and the country adopted its first official flag, a tricolour (an apparent weakness of Napoleon). The Helvetic tricolour had the same colours as the flag of today's Mali: green, red and yellow.

Standard-bearer of the Helvetic Republic, by Georg Leonhard Hartmann (1764-1828) Wikimedia Commons / Amt für Kultur des Kantons St. Gallen 2003

The experiment of making Switzerland a unitary state was short-lived. Napoleon himself said:“Nature destined Switzerland to become a League of States; no wise man would attempt to conquer it.”

Only five years after its creation, the Helvetic Republic – and its tricolour – came to an end (unlike the franc, a true success story).

A symbol born on the battlefield

After the tricolour, one didn't have to look far for a flag. After all, a white cross on a red background, albeit in different proportions and never really official, had existed for centuries.

The first attested use of the cross that would evolve into the present-day symbol of Switzerland dates back to 1339 when, during the Battle of Laupen, the Bernese and Confederacy troops, opposing Fribourg and the feudal lords of the Burgundian and Habsburg territories, sewed a white cross onto their chain mail in order to recognise each other.

There are three hypotheses on the origin of this cross, according to the Swiss Historical DictionaryExternal link . In order of increasing plausibility:

From the Theban legion and the cult of its commander, St Maurice.
From the war flag of the Holy Roman Empire
From the symbols of the Passion of Christ, particularly venerated in central Switzerland

The fact remains that the cross, often on a red field (perhaps a reference to the blood of Christ), would be found for more than a century in various forms on the armour and banners of Swiss soldiers, of troops made up of soldiers from different cantons and of mercenaries.

By the end of the Middle Ages, however, this custom died out. But the white cross on a red background remained the recognised symbol throughout Europe of the bizarre and complex system of alliances between 13 cantons known as the Old Confederation.

More More Episode 8: Swiss flag facts

This content was published on Dec 10, 2016 Everything you need to know about Switzerland's iconic cross.