Last modified: 2003-11-22 by ivan sache
Keywords: crete | kriti | state flag | naval ensign | star (white) | cross (white) |
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Crete was part of the Byzantine Empire
from A.D. 395-1204; ruled by Venice from
1204-1669; ruled by the Turkish Ottoman
Empire 1669-1898.
The Greek mainland, but not Crete, had become independent in
1833, and for the rest of the century the
ethnic Greeks in Crete fought for union (enosis) with Greece.
In 1898, the island, while still nominally part of the Ottoman
Empire, gained autonomy (unilaterally proclaimed in 1908), and in
1913 became an integral part of the Greek state.
Bruce Tindall, 20 May 1995
Enosis was proclaimed at a flag-raising ceremony in Hania,
which is still ceremonially repeated every Sunday.
The following flags are displayed and described in the Naval Museum
in Hania, which is located in the fort where the 1913 flag-raising
occurred.
Bruce Tindall, 20 May 1995
National and State flag
The flag divided by a white cross, like that of the Dominican Republic. Three of the quarters are blue; the canton is red with a white star inside it. In a couple of pictures of the flag (e.g., one painted on a commemorative porcelain plate along with a portrait of the statesman Venizelos), the star is yellow and/or has one point (pointing towards the upper left corner) longer than the other points. This flag, as well as the Greek plain cross flag, appears on some locally-woven textiles, displayed in the museum, that depict Cretan soldiers and civilians parading with flags.
Bruce Tindall, 20 May 1995
This is the flag of autonomous Crete, 1898-1908. Crete was occupied by the big powers(led by Britain) a little more than 100 years ago and after some discussion became an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire with Prince George of Greece as governor. It united with Greece in 1908. I don't know if the flag has any legal status now (I doubt it), but I did see it several times being used for Greek patriotic purposes when I was in Greece last year.
Source: Hellenic flags. Insignia-Emblems. [kok97]
Norman Martin, 16 June 1998
This old flag of Crete