The central design element of the “Five Cross” flag is the St. George Cross in the middle of it. The St. George Cross is still used as the national flag of England. St George is the patron saint of Georgia. According to Georgian scholar Giorgi Gabeskiria, the four small crosses were probably added during the reign of Giorgi V who drove out the Mongols. Around that era, the new flag design was adopted as a variation of the Jerusalem cross, a symbol used by crusaders in the Holy Land, which also used a central cross with four smaller “crosslets” in its four corners. The crosses are said to have represented the five Holy Wounds of Christ.
Flag of Georgia
