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Countries in Europe: flags, capitals and fun facts

GeoSilhueta has 44 countries in Europe. The largest by area is Russia (17,098,246 km²) and the smallest is Vatican City (0.44 km²). See each flag and capital, a fun fact, and open the page with the silhouette.

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Albania — capital: Tirana
The Enver Hoxha regime built about 170,000 concrete bunkers, which still dot the Albanian landscape.
Andorra — capital: Andorra la Vella
The bishop of Urgell and the president of France are, at the same time, Andorra's co-princes.
Austria — capital: Vienna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756.
Belarus — capital: Minsk
Białowieża Forest, shared with Poland, shelters the European bison, the continent's largest land mammal.
Belgium — capital: Brussels
In Brussels, the Manneken Pis statue of a little boy is dressed in different costumes throughout the year.
Bosnia and Herzegovina — capital: Sarajevo
Mostar's sixteenth-century Old Bridge was destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004 using original stones.
Bulgaria — capital: Sofia
The yogurt bacterium Lactobacillus bulgaricus was identified in 1905 by the Bulgarian doctor Stamen Grigorov.
Croatia — capital: Zagreb
The necktie traces back to scarves worn by Croatian soldiers, and 'cravat' comes from 'Hrvat', meaning Croat.
Czechia — capital: Prague
The word robot first appeared in R.U.R., a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Čapek.
Denmark — capital: Copenhagen
The name Lego comes from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning play well.
Estonia — capital: Tallinn
Skype was created by Estonian developers, who also helped make the country a pioneer in digital services.
Finland — capital: Helsinki
The sauna is so central to Finnish culture that the Finnish word has been adopted by many languages.
France — capital: Paris
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair and can grow several centimeters in summer heat.
Germany — capital: Berlin
The Danube rises in the Black Forest and flows through ten countries before reaching the Black Sea.
Greece — capital: Athens
The ancient Olympic Games were held at Olympia, starting in 776 BC.
Hungary — capital: Budapest
The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik.
Iceland — capital: Reykjavík
Iceland sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the North American and Eurasian plates drift apart.
Ireland — capital: Dublin
The harp is the country's official emblem, the only national symbol in the world that is a musical instrument.
Italy — capital: Rome
Italy is home to Rome's Colosseum, an amphitheater about 2,000 years old that held tens of thousands of people.
Latvia — capital: Riga
More than half of Latvia's territory is covered by forest.
Liechtenstein — capital: Vaduz
Liechtenstein is one of the few doubly landlocked countries: reaching the sea means crossing two borders.
Lithuania — capital: Vilnius
The Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai holds hundreds of thousands of crosses left by pilgrims.
Luxembourg — capital: Luxembourg City
It is the world's only sovereign grand duchy, ruled by a grand duke.
Malta — capital: Valletta
Malta has some of the world's oldest stone temples, such as Ġgantija, older than Egypt's pyramids.
Moldova — capital: Chișinău
The Mileștii Mici winery stores millions of bottles in underground galleries stretching about 200 km.
Monaco — capital: Monaco
At about 2 km², Monaco is the world's second-smallest country, after the Vatican.
Montenegro — capital: Podgorica
The name Montenegro means Black Mountain, after the dark forests of Mount Lovćen.
Netherlands — capital: Amsterdam
About a quarter of the country lies below sea level, protected by dikes and polders.
North Macedonia — capital: Skopje
Lake Ohrid, shared with Albania, is one of Europe's oldest lakes and a World Heritage Site.
Norway — capital: Oslo
Norway's fjords, such as Geiranger and Nærøyfjord, were carved out by glaciers.
Poland — capital: Warsaw
The Wieliczka Salt Mine, near Kraków, has chapels and sculptures carved entirely out of salt.
Portugal — capital: Lisbon
The border with Spain is one of the oldest in Europe and has barely changed since the 13th century.
Romania — capital: Bucharest
Romania's Danube Delta is one of Europe's best-preserved deltas and shelters thousands of birds.
Russia — capital: Moscow
Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest lake on Earth and holds about a fifth of its liquid surface fresh water.
San Marino — capital: San Marino
By tradition it was founded in 301 by Marinus, a Christian stonemason, and is one of the world's oldest republics.
Serbia — capital: Belgrade
Belgrade sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers.
Slovakia — capital: Bratislava
Bratislava is the only national capital that borders two other countries, Austria and Hungary.
Slovenia — capital: Ljubljana
Postojna Cave has over 20 km of passages and shelters the olm, a blind amphibian nicknamed the human fish.
Spain — capital: Madrid
Every August, the town of Buñol is flooded with tomatoes for La Tomatina, a giant food fight.
Sweden — capital: Stockholm
The Nobel Prizes, except the Peace Prize, are awarded in Stockholm every December 10.
Switzerland — capital: Bern
Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
Ukraine — capital: Kyiv
Dark, fertile chernozem soil covers much of the country, and the flag evokes wheat under a blue sky.
United Kingdom — capital: London
Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the tower, which is now called the Elizabeth Tower.
Vatican City — capital: Vatican City
At about 0.44 square kilometers, it is the world's smallest country, entirely inside Rome.