Christian colours
Liturgical white, red, green, purple and rose, Marian blue and cardinal red.
#FFFF00
Yellow
A primary colour between green and orange, seen in sunlight, leaves, and pigmentsBasic colour · 🇫🇷 France +5
#FFFFFF
White
The lightest colour, seen in snow, milk and chalk, and opposite to blackBasic colour
#800080
Purple
A cool colour between red and blue, long linked with royalty and rarityBasic colour · 🇱🇧 Lebanon +5
Blue
Lapis lazuli
A deep blue stone prized for jewellery and the source of ultramarine pigmentColour named from nature · 🇦🇫 Afghanistan +5
Green
Malachite
A banded green mineral and pigment once prized for art and decorationColour named from nature · 🇪🇬 Egypt +4
Blue
Indigo
A deep blue dye from plants, now mostly made synthetically and known for colouring denimDye · 🇮🇳 India +5
#120A8F
Ultramarine
A deep blue pigment once made from lapis lazuli, prized for centuries in artPigment · 🇦🇫 Afghanistan +2
#E25822
Scarlet
A bright red with a touch of orange, long tied to power, sacrifice and sinNamed shade · 🇹🇷 Turkey +4
#E34234
Vermilion
A brilliant orange-red pigment, once made from toxic mercury orePigment · 🇹🇷 Turkey +5
#800000
Maroon
A deep brownish red named for the French word for chestnutNamed shade · 🇦🇺 Australia +4
#008080
Teal
A dark cyan named after the Eurasian teal bird’s blue-green head stripeNamed shade
#FF0080
Rose
A bright colour halfway between red and magenta on the colour wheelNamed shade
#007BA7
Cerulean
A blue-green colour once made from cobalt stannate and linked with the skyNamed shade · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
#4B61D1
Savoy blueblu Savoia
A bright blue between peacock blue and periwinkle, a symbol of Italy since the Middle AgesNamed shade · 🇮🇹 Italy
#ADD8E6
Light blue
A pale blue shade found between blue and cyan, seen in flags and daily life worldwideNamed shade · 🇫🇷 France +5
#009C8C
Blue-green
The colour between blue and green, part of the cyan familyNamed shade · 🇦🇺 Australia +3
Blue
Blue
A colour long prized in art, faith and dress, from ancient Egypt to modern flagsBasic colour · 🇪🇬 Egypt +5
#00488B
Marian blue
A deep blue shade linked with images of the Virgin Mary in Christian artNamed shade · 🇦🇫 Afghanistan
Red
Red红 / 紅 (hóng), Красный (Krasny)
A colour linked with luck, love, courage and ceremony in cultures worldwideBasic colour · 🇨🇳 China +5
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Indigo: Photo by Evan Izer ( Palladian ), CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Rose: Petro Stelte, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Light blue: Yosef Ben Melamed, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- White: Steve Snodgrass, CC BY 2.0, source
- Savoy blue: El Gráfico, Public domain, source
- Malachite: Burkhard Mücke, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ultramarine: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lapis lazuli: Adam Ognisty, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Blue: Marie-Lan Nguyen, Public domain, source
- Maroon: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Scarlet: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Vermilion: عُثمان, CC0, source
- Yellow: Mark Robinson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Teal: Unknown author, CC0, source
- Blue-green: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, source
- Cerulean: Stephhzz, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Purple: Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Red: Politikaner, CC BY-SA 3.0, source