Coat of arms of Bucharest

Last updated
Coat of arms of Bucharest
Coat of arms of Bucharest.svg
Armiger Government of the city of Bucharest
Adopted1994
Motto Romanian: Patria și Dreptul Meu ("The Homeland And My Right")

The coat of arms of Bucharest is the heraldic symbol of the capital city of Romania. The present-day coat of arms was adopted by Domnitor (Ruling Prince) Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and changed under the Communist regime. In 1994, it was renewed again with minor alterations.

Contents

The saint, who is the city's patron, is commonly referred to as simply Saint Dimitrie (Demetrius), [1] thus bearing the same name as the 4th century Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki—today's arms seem to represent the latter, as the person depicted is dressed in a Roman uniform. [2]

Description

The official description is as follows:

A red shield depicting Saint Dumitru, haloed and standing on foot, wearing clothes distinctive of Roman legionaries and bearing attributes of a warrior saint: spear and cross.

The shield is placed on the chest of a golden eagle bearing a cross in the beak and with an open crown on the head.

The eagle’s beak and claws are colored in red, bearing in the claws in dexter a silver sword with golden hilt, and in the sinister a scepter of the same tincture.

In the lower part of the shield is a tricolor sash on which this motto is written: PATRIA ȘI DREPTUL MEU ("My Country and My Right").

The whole is placed on a blue shield; above it rests a silver mural crown consisting of 7 crenellated towers.

Above the crown is a cross-bearing eagle, the wings open. [3]

History

Coat of arms of Bucharest (1864) Historical Bucharest CoA 1864.jpg
Coat of arms of Bucharest (1864)
Coat of arms of Bucharest (1868) Historical Bucharest CoA 1868.jpg
Coat of arms of Bucharest (1868)

An early heraldic symbol for Bucharest was first used on seals of the town's judet (mayor) and pârgari (town council) as early as the 16th century: it usually featured images of the Madonna and Child or the Annunciation, and was accompanied by an inscription in either Church Slavonic or Romanian, which were simply variations of the phrase "this is the seal of Bucharest". [4]

Under the Organic Statute rule of Pavel Kiselyov, the city was awarded the new symbol of a standing woman wearing a shoulder sash and carrying the Scales of Justice (in 1862, the woman was seated, carrying both the scales and, in her left hand, flowers and ears of wheat). [4]

According to Constantin C. Giurescu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza changed the seal to depict the patron saint and an image of the mythical shepherd Bucur. [4] However, it appears that St Dimitrie Basarabov (or St Demetrius) was introduced as a symbol during Cuza's reign (in 1864, as attested by Monitorul Oficial ). [2] The arms were enlarged after World War I, when the mural crown and all other present-day elements were added, while the image of Bucur was removed. [4]

Coat of arms of Bucharest in 1970-1989 RSR Mun Bucuresti1.png
Coat of arms of Bucharest in 1970–1989

No symbol was in use between 1948 and Nicolae Ceaușescu's reforms of 1970. Then a new coat of arms was adopted, which lasted until the Romanian Revolution of 1989; it represented "the most characteristic elements of historical traditions and of political, economic and social relations". [5]

The 1970 coat of arms consisted of an escutcheon divided party per fess ; chief, landscaped, an eagle, or, wings displayed, facing sinister, over the image of the Palace of the Patriarchate, argent, on an azure field; over a cogwheel, or, with an open book with the lettered motto CIVITAS (verso) and NOSTRA (recto) (reading "Civitas Nostra" (Latin for "Our City"), or, on a field, gules; with an inescutcheon divided party per pale, dexter a hammer and sickle (symbol of the Romanian Communist Party)) on a field, gules, sinister the flag of Romania, the inescutcheon charged with the crest of Communist Romania. [6]

See also

Notes

  1. Giurescu, p.350; Vasilescu
  2. 1 2 Vasilescu
  3. "Hotărârea nr. 76/1993". Index normativ local.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Giurescu, p.350
  5. 1970 Decree
  6. Mic Dicționar Enciclopedic (addenda – counties and cities' coats of arms)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symbols of Kraków</span>

The city of Kraków uses a coat of arms, a seal, official colors, a flag, and a banner as its official symbols. Additionally, a number of semi-official and unofficial symbols of the city are also used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Romania</span> National coat of arms of Romania

The coat of arms of Romania was adopted in the Romanian Parliament on 10 September 1992 as a representative coat of arms for Romania. The current coat of arms is based on the lesser coat of arms of interwar Kingdom of Romania, which was designed in 1921 by the Transylvanian Hungarian heraldist József Sebestyén from Cluj, at the request of King Ferdinand I of Romania, it was redesigned by Victor Dima. As a central element, it shows a golden aquila holding a cross in its beak, and a mace and a sword in its claws. It also consists of the three colors which represent the colors of the national flag. The coat of arms was augmented on 11 July 2016 to add a representation of the Steel Crown of Romania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Montenegro</span> National coat of arms of Montenegro

The coat of arms of Montenegro was officially adopted by the law passed in the Parliament on 12 July 2004. It is now the central motif of the flag of Montenegro, as well as the coat of arms of the Armed Forces of Montenegro. It was constitutionally sanctioned by the Constitution proclaimed on 2 October 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolae Vasilescu-Karpen</span>

Nicolae Vasilescu Karpen was a Romanian engineer and physicist, who worked in telegraphy and telephony and had achievements in mechanical engineering, elasticity, thermodynamics, long-distance telephony, electrochemistry, and civil engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag and coat of arms of Transylvania</span> History of the coat of arms and flags of Transylvania

The flag and coat of arms of Transylvania were granted by Maria Theresa in 1765, when she established a Grand Principality within the Habsburg monarchy. While neither symbol has official status in present-day Romania, the coat of arms is marshalled within the national Romanian arms; it was also for decades a component of the Hungarian arms. In its upper half, it prominently includes the eagle, which may have been one of the oldest regional symbols, or is otherwise a localized version of the Polish eagle. Early versions of the Transylvanian charges were first designed in Habsburg Hungary at some point before 1550, and were therefore symbols of pretence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag and coat of arms of Moldavia</span>

The flag and coat of arms of Moldavia, one of the two Danubian Principalities, together with Wallachia, which formed the basis for the Romanian state, were subject to numerous changes throughout their history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Napoleonic Italy</span>

The coat of arms of Napoleonic Italy was the coat of arms used by the Kingdom of Italy (1805–1814) during the reign of Napoleon as King of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Buzău</span>

The coat of arms of Buzău is the heraldic symbol standing for the city of Buzău, Romania. The city's first recorded coat of arms dates back to 1831, and since then, the coat of arms has mostly kept its features, under different designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dealul Mitropoliei</span> Heritage site in Bucharest, Romania

Dealul Mitropoliei, also called Dealul Patriarhiei, is a small hill in Bucharest, Romania and an important historic, cultural, architectural, religious and touristic point in the national capital. From a religious point of view, it is one of the centres of Romanian Orthodoxy: the headquarters of the Romanian Patriarchy and the residence of the Patriarch are both located here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coat of arms of Cluj-Napoca</span> Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Cluj-Napoca is the heraldic symbol standing for the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The city's first recorded coat of arms dates back to 1369, and since then, the coat of arms has mostly kept its features, until 1948. In 1970 a new coat of arms was designed by the communist authorities, inserting the original heraldic symbol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symbols of Romanian Royalty</span>

The symbols of Romanian Royalty consist of the five symbols of the supreme authority: the Royal Crown, the mace, the Royal Mantle, the Royal Standard and the Royal Cypher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the flags of Romania</span> Aspect of history surrounding Romanias flags

The colors of the national flag of Romania has a long history, though the association of the three colors only dates to the 18th century. Red, yellow and blue were found on late 16th-century royal grants of Michael the Brave, as well as shields and banners. Thus, the late 13th century Wijnbergen armorial shows the coat of arms of the Wallachian ruler Litovoi as consisting of a shield of ten vertically alternating gold-and-red bands,. The same two colors, gules and or, also appeared on the late 15th century flag and coat of arms of Moldavia, during the reign of Stephen the Great. Then, from the late 16th century until the mid-17th century, the historical coat of arms of Transylvania gradually developed as a shield party per fess, consisting of a black eagle on blue background in the upper field, a dividing red band in the middle, and seven red towers on golden background in the lower field. Finally, in the last quarter of the 18th century, Bukovina gets its own coat of arms from the Habsburg Empire, a blue-and-red shield party per pale with a black aurochs' head in the middle, and three golden six-pointed stars surrounding it. During the Wallachian uprising of 1821, these three colors were present, along others, on the canvas of the revolutionaries' flag and its fringes; for the first time a meaning was attributed to them: "Liberty (blue-sky), Justice, Fraternity ( blood)".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Barbu Știrbei</span> Romanian politician

George Barbu Știrbei or Știrbeiŭ, also known as Gheorghe, Georgie, or Iorgu Știrbei, was a Wallachian-born Romanian aristocrat and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 15, 1866, until February 21, 1867. He was the eldest son of Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, Prince of Wallachia, and the nephew of his rival, Gheorghe Bibescu; his younger siblings included the landowner and industrialist Alexandru B. Știrbei. Educated in France, he returned to Wallachia during his father's princely mandate, as a Beizadea and aspiring politician. Fleeing his country during the Crimean War, he served the French Empire before returning home to become Wallachian Minister of War and Spatharios. He is remembered for reforming the Wallachian militia during the remainder of Prince Barbu's term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandru Papadopol-Calimah</span> Romanian politician

Alexandru Papadopol-Calimah was a Moldavian-born Romanian historian, jurist, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Culture of the Principality of Romania. As a maternal member of the Callimachi family, he had high aristocratic origins, but was a commoner on his father's side; he spent most of his life in the Moldavian town of Tecuci, whose history was a focus of his academic activity. He joined the Moldavian civil service in 1855, as a Spatharios in service to Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica, and participated in applying Ghica's reforms. Papadopol-Calimah consequently discarded his Greek-and-Hellenized background to become an exponent of Romanian nationalism, supporting a political unification between Moldavia and Wallachia, which came about in 1859. He first served in the unified administration established by Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza, rising from Prefect to State Council member, then to cabinet minister. Throughout his career, he remained closely aligned with Vasile Alecsandri and Mihail Kogălniceanu, and later also with Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu.

A national coat of arms is a symbol which denotes an independent state in the form of a heraldic achievement. While a national flag is usually used by the population at large and is flown outside and on ships, a national coat of arms is normally considered a symbol of the government or the head of state personally and tends to be used in print, on armorial ware, and as a wall decoration in official buildings. The royal arms of a monarchy, which may be identical to the national arms, are sometimes described as arms of dominion or arms of sovereignty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traian Bratu</span> Romanian philologist

Traian Bratu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian scholar of German language and literature. A native of the Mărginimea Sibiului region in present-day Sibiu County, southern Transylvania, he left for the Romanian Old Kingdom, where he attended university, followed up by a doctorate at the University of Berlin.

Constantin Boerescu was a Wallachian-born Romanian lawyer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandru Emanoil Florescu</span>

Alexandru Emanoil Florescu was a Wallachian and Romanian politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National College (Iași)</span>

The National College is a high school located at 4 Arcu Street, Iași, Romania.

Events from the year 1922 in Romania. The year saw the Dealul Spirii Trial and the crowning of King Ferdinand.

References