Stop with the upside down European flags, please.

2023-04-17

A picture of an upside down European flag next to the Estonian and TalTech flags.

The flags in front of the main entrance at TalTech. The European flag is upside down (pay attention to the stars) and has been for a while now. It also isn't the only upside down European flag at TalTech.

You probably know the European flag, blue background and a circle of twelve yellow stars in the center. But did you know, that the stars can be upside down? Each star has five points. At the bottom there are two points at the same height, while there is one single point at the top in the center. This article has a nice description of the phenomenon.

Is this a thing? Personally I have seen the European flag upside down on multiple occasions. When getting to ask the people, who put them there, about it they are generally surprised by a circle of stars being upside down. So while in some cases an upside down flag can be seen as a signal that the owner sees the country/region in trouble, this does not seem to be the case with the European flag. Should you ever have an excuse, talk to people about this, maybe we can manage to run out of said excuses.

Some other cool fact: The twelve stars make for a great analogue clock. I first noticed this when participation in a simulation of the European parliament in my hometown. One participant had the logo of the simulation set as the background of their smart watch.