The National Flag Day is marked on April 27 at national level for the third year in a row, after a decision was made in 2010 to resume celebrating this day. For the first and last time before 2010, this day was observed in 1990, IPN reports.

On the occasion of the National Flag Day, the flags in Vadeni village of Soroca district, Balanesti village of Nisporeni district, and Larguta village of Cantemir district will be hoisted on new masts that were set up under the Government decision of July 2, 2012.

The blue, yellow and red tricolor was instituted as the national flag on April 27, 1990 by the first Parliament of Moldova. For the first time, it was raised on the cupola of the Parliament Building by Gheorghe Ghimpu, who founded the National Patriotic Fund of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina.

Moldova’s flag is similar to that flags of Andorra and Chad and has much in common with Romania’s flag. It includes the old heraldic symbol of Moldova, which is the head of aurochs.

In 1940, when the territory between the Prut and Nistru rivers was attached to the USSR, a red-green flag was imposed in Moldova. A number of young people from Orhei were shot, while others were convicted to long imprisonment terms after they raised the flag on state institutions on the night of December 24, 1940. At the start of 1945, four men from Ocnita and Edinet hoisted the tricolor in their settlements. They were condemned to death and executed.