The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is a historical Croatian coat of arms in the shape of a shield.
Flag
The flag of the Republic of Croatia consists of three bands of colour: red, white and blue, with the Croatian Coat of arms in the centre.
During the Croatian national revival (first half of the 19th century), the traditional Illyrian jacket was made in three colours - red, white and blue, with the same three colours forming the main part of the uniform of Viceroy Josip Jelačić at his official inauguration in 1848. The tri-coloured flag has been kept from those days with the order of red, white, blue. The flag symbolises the wish of the Croatian revivers for the uniting of Croatian lands.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia is a historical Croatian coat of arms in the shape of a shield. The chequered pattern has twenty five alternating red and white (silver) fields, so that the top left field is red. Above the shield is a crown divided into five smaller shields with historical coats of arms in the following order (left to right): the oldest known Croatian coat of arms, then the coats of arms of the Republic of Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia.
The oldest known Croatian Coat of arms has a yellow (golden) six pointed star and a white (silver) moon on a blue shield.
The Croatian coat of arms appeared for the first time on a genealogy of the Habsburgs around 1512/1518.
National anthem
The national anthem of the Republic of Croatia is “Our Beautiful Homeland”, written by Antun Mihanović and with music composed by Josip Runjanin. It was sung for the first time as the Croatian anthem in 1891.
An audio recording and notes of the anthem can be found on the following web site: http://www.croatia.eu/article.php?lang=2&id=6
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Croatia
