Coat of arms of Russia

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Coat of arms of Russia
Versions
Charge
Shield
Gules, a double-headed eagle displayed, twice imperially crowned, grasping in the dexter claw an imperial sceptre, and in the sinister claw an imperial orb, all Or; in chief another larger imperial crown with issuant and pendent therefrom a ribbon, also Or; the eagle is charged on the breast with an escutcheon Gules, Saint George slaying the dragon.

The coat of arms of Russia derives from the earlier

Ivan III (1462–1505), the current coat of arms is directly derived from its medieval original, with the double-headed eagle having Byzantine and earlier antecedents. The general tincture corresponds to the fifteenth-century standard.[1]

Description and usage

The two main elements of Russian state symbols (the two-headed eagle and Saint George slaying the dragon) predate Peter the Great. According to the Kremlin's website:[2][3]

«...четырёхугольный, с закруглёнными нижними углами, заострённый в оконечности красный геральдический щит с золотым двуглавым орлом, поднявшим вверх распущенные крылья. Орел увенчан двумя малыми коронами и — над ними — одной большой короной, соединенными лентой. В правой лапе орла — скипетр, в левой — держава. На груди орла, в красном щите, — серебряный всадник в синем плаще на серебряном коне, поражающий серебряным копьём черного опрокинутого навзничь и попранного конём дракона.»

Which is translated as:

"… a gold two-headed eagle with raised extended wings set against a four-cornered red heraldic shield with rounded lower corners. Two small crowns top the eagle's heads, with one large crown above them. The three crowns are linked by a ribbon. The eagle holds a sceptre in its right claw and an orb in its left claw. The eagle bears a red shield on its breast depicting a silver horseman in a blue cape, mounted upon a silver horse and slaying a black dragon with a silver spear."

The current coat of arms was designed by artist

signed by President Vladimir Putin
on December 20, 2000.

Arms emblazoned on the 2018 25 ruble coin

Today, the imperial crowns on each head stand for the unity and sovereignty of

scepter grasped in the eagle's talons are traditional heraldic symbols of sovereign power and authority. Of note is that the scepter shows the Droste effect, as it is topped by a miniature image of the coat-of-arms itself. They have been retained in the modern Russian arms despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a monarchy, which led to objections by the Communists even though both the blue ribbon and the collar of the Order of St. Andrew (which in the imperial arms supported the three crowns and surrounded the central shield
) have been removed from the current coat of arms.

It appears on the federal buildings and is on the cover of the national passport.

The standard of the president of Russia is a squared Russian tricolour defaced with the coat of arms of Russia, the banner of the Russian Armed Forces also has the coat of arms centered on the obverse side. Some state awards of Russia are also designed based on the coat of arms, including the State Prize. Russian ruble coins depict the coat of arms on the obverse side since 2016.

Historical versions

The heraldic device of Russia has gone through three major periods in its history, undergoing major changes in the transitions between the

Moscow Kremlin
.

The other main Russian coat of arms, the image of St George slaying the dragon, is contemporaneous. In its first form, as a rider armed with a spear, it is found in the seal of

Vasili I of Moscow
in 1390. At the time of Ivan III, the dragon was added, but the final association with Saint George was not made until 1730, when it was described as such in an Imperial decree. Eventually, St George became the patron saint of Moscow (and, by extension, of Russia).

After the assumption of the title of

Moscow Patriarchate in 1589, a patriarchal cross
was added for a time between the heads of the eagle.

1721–1917: Russian Empire

Coat of arms of the
Russian Empire
Versions
Greater achievement
Middle achievement
Lesser achievement
Michael and Gabriel
CompartmentVegetal
Order(s)Order of St. Andrew

The

scepter and golden globus cruciger. On the chest of the eagle there was an escutcheon with the arms of Moscow, depicting Saint George, mounted and defeating the dragon. After approval by Alexander III
on 24 July 1882, the greater coat of arms was adopted on 3 November, replacing the previous 1857 version.

Its central element is the state coat of arms, surmounted with the helmet of

Imperial Crown of Russia and decorated with black double-headed eagles. The inscription on the canopy reads: Съ Нами Богъ ("God is with us"). Above the canopy stands the state khorugv
, of gold cloth, on which is depicted the Medium State Seal. The banner is topped by the State Eagle.

Around the central composition are placed fifteen coats of arms of the various territories of the Russian Empire. Nine of these are crowned and placed on a laurel and oak wreath. Proceeding from the left in a counter-clockwise direction, these represent, as they are included in the

Siberia and Astrakhan
.

The six upper escutcheons are joint depictions of various smaller principalities and

Semigalia, Karelia, Livonia) and Turkestan
.

The Middle Coat of Arms (Средний государственный герб Российской Империи) is similar to the Great Coat of Arms, excluding the

Order of Saint Andrew
around the escutcheon of St. George, and the Arms of Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, Finland, Kiev-Vladimir-Novgorod, Taurica, Poland and Kazan on the wings (seen clockwise).

In the beginning of the 17th century, with the ascension of the

Romanov dynasty and its contacts with Western Europe, the image of the eagle changed. In 1625, for the first time the double-headed eagle appeared with three crowns. Traditionally, the latter have alternatively been interpreted as representing the conquered kingdoms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia, as stated in the first edict concerning the state seal, on 14 December 1667, or as standing for the unity of Great Russia (Russia), Little Russia (Ukraine) and White Russia (Belarus
). Probably under influence from its German equivalent, the eagle, from 1654 onwards, was designed with spread wings and holding a scepter and orb in its claws.

During the reign of

imperial pattern
after his assumption of the imperial title in 1721. At about this time, the eagle's color was changed from golden to black, which would be retained until the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. A final form for the eagle was adopted by imperial decree in 1729, and remained virtually unchanged until 1853.

During the early 19th century, the eagle designs diversified, and two different variants were adopted by Emperor Nicholas I. The first type represented the eagle with spread wings, one crown, with an image of St.George on the breast and with a wreath and a thunderbolt in its claws. The second type followed the 1730 pattern, with the addition of the arms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia on its left wing and those of Poland, the Taurica and Finland on the right one.

In 1855–57, in the course of a general heraldic reform, the eagle's appearance was changed, mirroring German patterns, while St George was made to look to the left, in accordance with the rules of Western heraldry. At the same time, the full set of coat of arms of Great, Medium and Minor Arms, was laid down and approved. The final revisions and changes were made in 1882–83, and are those described above.

1918–93: Soviet and post-Soviet Russia

Main articles: Emblem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and State Emblem of the Soviet Union

The coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was adopted on 10 July 1918 by the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Soviet Union), and modified several times afterwards. It shows wheat as the symbol of agriculture, a rising sun for the future of the Russian nation, the red star (the RSFSR was the last Soviet Republic to include the star in its state emblem, in 1978) as well as the hammer and sickle for the victory of Communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states".

The

Soviet Union state motto ("Workers of the world, unite!") in Russian
('Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!' — Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes!) is also a part of the coat of arms.

The acronym of the RSFSR is shown above the hammer and sickle, and reads 'PCФCP', for "Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика" (lit. 'Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic').

Similar emblems were used by the

Dagestan ASSR, which had the motto in eleven languages
as there is no single Dagestani language).

The

socialist heraldry, a style also seen in e.g. the Chinese national emblem
.

The emblem shows the Soviet emblems of the Hammer and Sickle and the Red Star over a globe, in the center of a wreath wrapped in ribbons emblazoned with the communist motto ("Workers of the world, unite!") in the

Autonomous Soviet Republic
(ASSR) had its own coat of arms, largely inspired by the state emblem of the Union.

Four versions were used: 6 ribbons were used in 1923, which were written on in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani; 11 ribbons with the addition of Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Kyrgyz; 16 with the addition of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, and Finnish. Finally, the inscriptions in Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh and Kyrgyz were updated to reflect their transition from the Latin to the Cyrillic script. The final version of the emblem was adopted in 1956 with the removal of the Finnish inscription from the insignia, reflecting the 1956 transformation of the Karelo-Finnish SSR into the Karelian ASSR.

In 1992, the inscription was changed from RSFSR ('РСФСР') to the Russian Federation ('Российская Федерация') in connection with the change of the name of the state.[5] In 1993, president Boris Yeltsin signed a decree to replace the Communist design by the present coat of arms.[6][7]

Evolution

  • 1472: Seal of Ivan III the Great
    1472: Seal of
    Ivan III the Great
  • 1539: Seal of Ivan IV the Terrible
    1539: Seal of
    Ivan IV the Terrible
  • 1577: Coat of arms under Ivan IV
    1577: Coat of arms
    under Ivan IV
  • 1589: Coat of arms under Feodor I
    1589: Coat of arms
    under Feodor I
  • 1667: Coat of arms of the Tsardom of Russia
    1667: Coat of arms of the Tsardom of Russia
  • 1721: Petrovian era coat of arms
    1721: Petrovian era coat of arms
  • 1800: Imperial coat of arms under Paul I
    1800: Imperial coat of arms under Paul I
  • 1800: Greater coat of arms
    1800: Greater
    coat of arms
  • 1802: Lesser coat of arms
    1802: Lesser coat of arms
  • 1825: First variant of Nicholas I's coat of arms
    1825: First variant of Nicholas I's coat of arms
  • 1830: Second variant of the coat of arms
    1830: Second variant of the coat of arms
  • 1882: Greater coat of arms
    1882: Greater
    coat of arms
  • 1917: Provisional Government/ Republican coat of arms
    1917: Provisional Government/
    Republican coat of arms
  • 1918: Coat of arms of the Russian State
    1918: Coat of arms of the Russian State
  • 1918: 1st coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
    1918: 1st coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
  • 1920: 2nd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
    1920: 2nd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
  • 1923: 1st coat of arms of the Soviet Union
    1923: 1st coat of arms of the Soviet Union
  • 1929: 2nd coat of arms of the Soviet Union
    1929: 2nd coat of arms of the Soviet Union
  • 1936: 3rd coat of arms of the Soviet Union
    1936: 3rd coat of arms of the Soviet Union
  • 1946: 4th coat of arms of the Soviet Union
    1946: 4th coat of arms of the Soviet Union
  • 1954: 3rd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
    1954: 3rd coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
  • 1956: 5th coat of arms of the Soviet Union
    1956: 5th coat of arms of the Soviet Union
  • 1978: 4th coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
    1978: 4th coat of arms of the Russian SFSR
  • 1991: Coat of arms after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
    1991: Coat of arms after the dissolution of the Soviet Union
  • 1993: Present coat of arms
    1993: Present
    coat of arms
  • 1993: Present coat of arms (other variant)
    1993: Present
    coat of arms (other variant)

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780429026263
    .
  2. ^ "Герб". Kremlin.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  3. ^ "National Coat of Arms". Kremlin.ru. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  4. ^ Ivanov, Dmitry. "Geral'dika segodnya || Yevgeny Il'ich UKHNALYOV (1931–2015)" Геральдика сегодня || Евгений Ильич УХНАЛЁВ (1931–2015) [Heraldry today || Evgeny Ilyich UHNALYOV (1931–2015)]. sovet.geraldika.ru. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  5. ^ The law of the Russian Federation from 21 April 1992 № 2708-I «About changes and additions of the Constitution (Basic law) of the Russian SFSR»
  6. ^ "Is This the Symbol Russia Wants? : Yeltsin chooses the particularly inapt double-headed eagle. Why?". Los Angeles Times. 6 December 1993. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  7. ^ Khutarev, Vladimir (13 July 2014). "From Byzantium to present-day Russia, the double-headed eagle still soars". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 7 December 2022.

External links

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