Crosses in heraldry Crowns. Several national flags are based on late medieval war flags, including the white-on-red crosses of the flag of Denmark and the flag of Switzerland. The elongated Nordic cross originates in the 18th century due to the rectangular shape of maritime flags. The Red Cross flag originates in 1906 as a colour-switched version of the flag of Switzerland. Crosses in heraldry The cross is a basic design of two intersecting lines (X) used from pre-historic times. Its use was enormously expanded as the Christian cross, from about the 6th century, deriving from a T-shape representing the gibbet ("stauros", "crux") of
Flag of the Soviet Union building of communism. The flag's design was legislated in 1955, which gave a clear way to define and create the flag. This resulted in a change of the hammer's handle length and the shape of the sickle. The adopted statute stated that: The final design of the flag was adopted in 1980. The design was kept the same except that the background colour was changed. The colour was brightened from a near-burgundy crimson to a light to medium red. That flag remained the national flag of the Soviet Union up until late 1991, when a tricolour was formally adopted by