During his visit to the Vatican last week, Czech President Petr Pavel took over one of the oldest designs of the Czechoslovak national flagwhose author is one of the founders of the republic, Slovak politician and general Milan Rastislav Štefánik. The flag from 1918 became part of the collection of the Prague Military Historical Institute (VHÚ) on Thursday. TASR informs about this according to the portal iDnes.cz.
Štefánik prepared the proposal in the last year of the First World War during his spring visit to Rome. It was intended to lead the ceremonial march of Czechoslovak legionnaires through the streets of the Italian capital.
The flag was discovered by historian Tomáš Parma from the Cyril Methodist Theological Faculty of the Palacký University in the archives of the Papal College Nepomucenum in Rome. which is intended for Czech theologians.
The base of the flag consists of a white and red stripe, which is complemented by blue edges and is made of linen. In its center are the letters Č and S. The deputy director of VHÚ Michal Burian reminded that the author of the form of these letters is the Czech painter František Kupka. From April 1918, they became part of the equipment regulations of the Czechoslovak legions. The letters are still part of the uniform of the soldiers protecting the Czech head of state and Prague Castle. The artifact will have to be restored, but the public will be able to view it at the new exhibition in the National Monument in Prague’s Vítkov already this year.
