A giant Slovenian flag measuring 15 by 7.5 metres has been hoisted up a 50-metre flagpole on a hill above Logatec, honouring the national flag as a symbol and marking the upcoming Statehood Day.

The largest flag in the country was hoisted on Sekirica, a 545-metre hill, by the Guard of the Slovenian Armed Forces, on 17 June.

It was made by a seamstress from the Logatec, a town 30 kilometres west of the capital Ljubljana, while all the other work was done by members of the local chamber of small business.

The municipality imported the flagpole from Portugal, erecting it on a piece of land donated from a local.

Preparations for erecting the flagpole started in 2021 and the final construction work was launched in April, according to Mayor Berto Menard.

By flying the biggest Slovenian flag on the local hill "we celebrate the period since the Slovenian flag was first mentioned, a time span which unites," he said.

"At the same time, we want to say that we are happy to have our own state," said Menard, who wants the flag to unite Slovenians in their diversity.

Borut Pahor, the former president, said what made the event extraordinary was not the flag being the largest in the country, it was about the act of flying the national flag, something Slovenians are typically still reserved about.

"It is all too rare that we express our patriotic emotions or other emotions of belonging with flags and other symbols of the state," he said.

The Slovenian tricolour was publicly flown for the first time in Ljubljana on 7 April 1848 as Slovenians were becoming increasingly aware of their distinct identity in the multi-ethnic Austrian Empire.

Featuring three equal horizontal bands of white, blue and red, the flag obtained its current appearance with a coat of arms when Slovenia declared independence in 1991.

It was publicly hoisted for the first time on 26 June 1991 in Republic Square in Ljubljana when Slovenian independence was declared.