The European flag turns 50 this week, with its twelve golden stars representing "perfection and entirety" like the twelve months of the year, the twelve apostles or the signs of the zodiac.
The image was first taken up by the human rights organisation, the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in 1955 after five years of quarreling.
The then 14-strong council now has 46 European member countries and still uses the flag along with the EU, which adopted the official symbol in 1985.
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