Order of the Star of Romania

Order of the Star of Romania Ordinul Steaua României
Collar of the Order
Awarded by The King of the Romanians (1877 - 1947) The President of Romania since 1998
Type	Order of Merit
Ribbon	Red with two thin Dark Blue stripes on either side.
Eligibility	(1) Civil, Military; (2) Military units; (3) Foreign citizens
Awarded for	(1) Exceptional civil and military services to the Romanian State and the Romanian people; (2) For special acts in time of peace or for heroic acts in time of war; (3) For contributing to the development of the friendship relations with Romania, or for other exceptional services to the Romanian State and the Romanian People.
Status	Currently awarded
Grand Master	President Klaus Iohannis
Grades	Grand Cross with Collar Grand Cross Grand Officer Commander Officer
Former grades	Knight/Dame
Statistics
Established	1877 - Romanian War of Independence
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Michael the Brave
Next (lower)	Order of Faithful Service
The ribbon of the Order

The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: Ordinul Steaua României) is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five ranks, from lowest to the highest: Officer, Commander, Grand Officer, Grand Cross, and Grand Cross with Collar.

In 1863 Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, asked the Romanian representative to Paris to contact the then well-known jewellery house Krétly, to manufacture a state decoration. Krétly presented a model, which was immediately accepted by the domnitor, and based on his agreement, 1,000 pieces of the order were made. It was decided that the order would have five ranks: Knight (Cavaler), Officer (Ofițer), Comandor (Comandor), Grand Officer (Mare Ofițer), and Grand Cross (Mare Cruce).

Unlike all other decorations in that time that were mostly inspired on the French Légion d'honneur, or which had their insignia like a Maltese cross, the model proposed by Krétly for this order was a blue cross crosslet (cruce repetată), a design that was then unique in decorational design.

The domnitor decided that the name of the honour would be "The Order of the Union" ("Ordinul Unirii"). It was planned to institute the order on 24 January 1864, the date when the 5th anniversary of his election would be celebrated and a moment that marked the unification of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Because of this, the motto of the new order would fit the event: "GENERE ET CORDES FRATRES" ("BROTHERS THROUGH ORIGINS AND FEELINGS"). The obverse of the insignia would bear the numbers "5" and "24", the days of January when he was elected in both Moldova and Wallachia.