Formation September 7, 1969 | President Michel R. Lupant | |
 | ||
Type International association Membership 55 associations and institutions Official languages French, English, German, Spanish | ||
The International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV, French acronym: Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques) is an international federation of 52 regional, national, and multinational associations and institutions across the globe that study vexillology, which FIAV defines in its constitution as "the creation and development of a body of knowledge about flags of all types, their forms and functions, and of scientific theories and principles based on that knowledge."
Contents
History
The study of flags, or vexillology, was formalized by Whitney Smith in 1957. He then moved to organize various flag organizations and meetings including the first Congress of Vexillology and International Federation of Vexillological Associations.
The FIAV was provisionally organized on September 3, 1967, at the Second International Congress of Vexillology held in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, and officially created on September 7, 1969, at the Third International Congress of Vexillology held in Boston, Massachusetts.
Governance
FIAV has a three-person Board consisting of a President, Secretary-General, and Secretary-General for Congresses. The Board manages the current affairs of FIAV and convenes the biennial sessions of the General Assembly, which are held during each International Congress of Vexillology. The FIAV General Assembly is composed of a delegate from each of FIAV’s members. The General Assembly elects the Board and is responsible for setting policy.
Officers
The current members of the FIAV Board are:
Members
Current members of FIAV are:
International Congresses of Vexillology
The International Congress of Vexillology is a week long biennial conference. A Congress consists of vexillology presentations, FIAV's General Assembly and flag display tours.
Since 1969, FIAV has sponsored the biennial International Congresses of Vexillology (ICV). Previous Congresses have been held in Muiderberg (1965), Zürich and Rüschlikon (1967), Boston (1969), Turin (1971), London (1973), IJsselmeer (1975), Washington, D.C. (1977), Vienna (1979), Ottawa (1981), Oxford (1983), Madrid (1985), San Francisco (1987), Melbourne (1989), Barcelona (1991), Zürich (1993), Warsaw (1995), Cape Town (1997), Victoria, British Columbia (1999), York (2001), Stockholm (2003), Buenos Aires (2005), Berlin (2007), Yokohama (2009), Washington, DC (2011), Rotterdam (2013), and Sydney (2015),
ICV 27 will be held in London in 2017.; ICV 28 will be held in San Antonio, Texas, USA in 2019.
FIAV flag
The FIAV flag was initially designed by Klaes Sierksma and slightly modified by the organizing committee of the Second International Congress of Vexillology. The flag was introduced on September 3, 1967. Its description is, "On a blue field, extending horizontally from hoist to fly, two yellow halyards forming two interlaced loops." The knot formed is a sheet bend. The color blue is defined as Pantone Matching System U293 and the color yellow is defined as Pantone Matching System U123. Flags for the three officers were approved in 1999, having been designed by the former FIAV president, William Crampton.