Monument to the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Estonia

The national flag of Estonia (Eesti lipp) is a tricolour featuring three equal horizontal bands of blue at the top, black in the middle, and white at the bottom. The flag is called sinimustvalge in Estonian. The tricolour was already in wide use as the symbol of the nation, when the Republic of Estonia became an independent country in 1918. Formally, the tricolour became the national flag by the decision of the Estonian government on 21 November 1918, and the parliament later reconfirmed the flag's official status with a law in 1922. During World War II, soon after the Soviet army had invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940, the new Stalinist occupation regime banned the Estonian flag, and its use as well as any use of its blue, black and white colour combination became punishable by laws of the Soviet Union. The Estonian flag was from 1940 until 1991 continuously used by the Estonian government-in-exile, diplomatic service, and the diaspora of Estonian refugees around the world. In October 1988, the public use of the tricolour flag was officially permitted again by the local authorities. On 23 February 1989, the Soviet red flag was taken down permanently from the most symbolic site of display, the Pikk Hermann tower of the Toompea Castle in the capital city Tallinn. It was replaced with the blue-black-white flag on the next morning, 24 February 1989, upon the 71st anniversary of the Estonian Declaration of Independence (1918). The national flag was officially re-adopted by the Estonian authorities in August 1990, one year before the nation's full restoration of independence in August 1991.