Flag and seal of Virginia
U.S. state flag and seal
The seal of Virginia is the official symbolic representation of the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state. The state flag of Virginia consists of the obverse of the seal against a blue background. A state flag was first adopted at the beginning of the American Civil War in April 1861, readopted in 1912, and standardized by the General Assembly in February 1950. The standing allegorical female figure of virtue is shown having vanquished tyranny, symbolized by a fallen king at her feet. She has an exposed breast in the manner of classical depictions of Amazons. The motto shown on the seal, Sic semper tyrannis, means "Thus always to tyrants."
It is one of six U.S. state flags (along with Florida, New York, New Jersey, Wyoming, and Idaho) with a depiction of a woman, and the only state flag in the U.S. depicting nudity.
The flag may be decorated with a white fringe along the fly edge; this is usually done when the flag is displayed indoors.
Legal description of flag
The 2024 Code of Virginia, Title 1, Chapter 5, § 1-506 defines the state flag as follows:
...a deep blue field, with a circular white centre of the same material. Upon this circle shall be painted or embroidered, to show on both sides alike, the coat of arms of the Commonwealth, as described in § 1-500 for the obverse of the great seal of the Commonwealth; and there may be a white fringe on the outer edge, furthest from the flagstaff.
Flag history
Unofficial flags (1833–1861)
The first state flag was made in 1833 during the Nullification Crisis.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Flag and seal of Virginia” is u.S. state flag and seal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Flag, seal and Virginia, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Flag and seal of Virginia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.