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A red and white chequered shield of twenty-five squares.
Also known as: Šahovnica, Sahovnica, Croatian chequy, Red and white chessboard
The šahovnica is a five-by-five red and white chequerboard, and which colour occupies the top-left square has been politically loaded: the wartime Ustaše state's version began with white, and the modern republic's begins with red. The detail is not decorative.
Denotes Croatia as the central element of its coat of arms: a shield of twenty-five alternating red and white squares.
Contexts: Public information
Begins with a red square in the upper left in the modern republic's version; the Ustaše state of 1941–45 used a white first square, and the distinction remains politically sensitive.
The first-square colour distinguishes the modern republic's arms from the version used by the wartime Ustaše state. The difference is a matter of documented record; this entry describes it and takes no position on its contemporary political use.
Contexts: Public information
Is crowned in the modern arms by five smaller shields representing historical Croatian regions.
Contexts: Public information
A shield filled with a five-by-five grid of alternating red and white squares, the upper-left square red, beneath a row of five small crowned shields.