A Qatari flag, as big as 19 football fields, yesterday entered the Guinness World Records as the largest flag ever made. The maroon and white flag unfurled in Lusail has an area of 101,978sqm and weighs 9.8 tonnes. It was laid on an area supported by 5,000 bags of soil weighing eight tonnes and bearing the same colour of the flag.
DOHA: A Qatari flag, as big as 19 football fields, yesterday entered the Guinness World Records as the largest flag ever made.
The maroon and white Qatari flag unfurled in Lusail has a total area of 101,978sqm and weighs 9.8 tonnes. It was laid on an area supported by 5,000 bags of soil weighing eight tonnes and bearing the same colour of the flag.
Marco Frigatti, Senior-Vice President of Records Management Team, Guinness World Records, announced the Qatari flag as the largest in the world breaking the previous record of 79,000sqm set by Romania in May this year.
The announcement was made before hundreds of students, guests, dignitaries and representatives of different diplomatic missions at a ceremony at the Katara Amphitheatre. Prior to the announcement students from Independent schools and 300 children from Shafallah were taken to the site of the flag.
Photos of the flag were taken by the Es’hail satellite, the first time for a flag to be photographed by a satellite.
“We feel proud and happy for the success of “The Flag of Gratitude and Loyalty” campaign. We dedicate this as a present to the Father Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for their efforts in achieving national development,” said Mukaim Rashid Al Khayarin, Executive Chairman of the project and owner of Broq magazine.
Katara collaborated with Broq magazine to initiate the project in September this year.
The event, Al Khayarin said, was held as an important part of the National Day celebrations to convey the message of loyalty and appreciation of the Qatari people to the Qatari leadership.
“We are filled with pride and dignity to see our National Flag represent the meaning of loyalty to Qatar at the highest sense. What we see now is the product of the efforts and determination to overcome challenges in order to realise this international record registering Qatar’s name in Guinness World Records,” said Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara.
Through another initiative called “We fly together for children’s education” the flag will be made into school bags to be distributed to more than 200,000 students in 60 countries around the world, he disclosed.
The Peninsula
