The use of heraldry in Belarus is used by government bodies, subdivisions of the national government, organizations, corporations and by families.
Until it was absorbed into the Soviet Union, Belarus as the Belarusian Democratic Republic was represented by a coat of arms: a charging knight on a red field, called the Vytis or Pahonia ('the Chase').
Throughout the communist period, coats of arms fell out of favor and were replaced by emblems. The cities still used shields, but these were changed to add socialist realism or to announce the state awards each city earned.
Once the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, the Pahonia was restored as the state coat of arms and the cities reverted to old coat of arms or created new designs. Each of the seven voblasts of Belarus has its own coat of arms. Historical achievements, state awards or state symbols are placed on the coat of arms. For example, the enterprise "October" features the state flag of Belarus on their coat of arms.. By 1995, Belarus had reverted its Coat of Arms to Soviet-era style emblem.
There have been several waves of Belarusian cities receiving coats of arms. Firstly, many cities received coats of arms under the Magdeburg Law during the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the Partitions of Poland, territories in modern-day Belarus were incorporated into the Russian Empire. In the late 18th century and during the 19th century, the authorities of the Russian Empire assigned new coats of arms to most Belarusian cities, often aiming to emphasize the cities' conquest by the Russians.
In the Belarusian SSR era, cities didn't have any official coats of arms. In the late years of the USSR, Russian-Empire-era coats of arms were sporadically used as informal symbols.
After the restoration of the independence of Belarus in 1991, the cities of Belarus have restored the official usage of coats of arms. Most cities have restored the initial medieval coats of arms, fewer have restored the coats of arms granted during the Russian Empire.
City | Current coat of arms | Historical coat of arms | Coat of arms introduced by the Russian Empire |
---|---|---|---|
Miensk | |||
Bierascie | |||
Homiel | |||
Horadnia | |||
Mahilow | |||
Viciebsk |
During the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Vytis has been the dominating symbol on the coats of arms on the provinces on the territory of today's Belarus.
After annexation of Belarus to the Russian Empire, new administrative divisions (gubernyas, or governorates) were introduced. Vitebsk and Vilnius governorates inherited coats of arms of their former voivodeships.
After the restoration of the independence of Belarus, the regions received new coats of arms, mostly based on the coats of the Russian-era governorates.
See Armorial of Polish nobility
The nobility of the historical regions of modern Belarus, which comprise parts of Lithuania propria and White Ruthenia, were a historical part of the Lithuanian nobility and Ruthenian nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Very early, the nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania adopted the heraldic tradition of the Polish szlachta. The heraldry of the said nobility constitutes a part of the Polish heraldry.
The Belarusian Roman Catholic senior clergy has personal coats of arms as according to the customs of catholic ecclesiastical heraldry.
Grodno or Hrodna is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities of Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Minsk, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the border with Poland, and 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the administrative center of Grodno Region and Grodno District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2024, the city has a population of 361,115 inhabitants.
Grodno region, also known as Grodno oblast or Hrodna voblasts, is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center, Grodno, is the largest city in the region. As of 2024, it has a population of 992,556.
The Cross of Lorraine, known as the Cross of Anjou in the 16th century, is a heraldic two-barred cross, consisting of a vertical line crossed by two shorter horizontal bars. In most renditions, the horizontal bars are "graded" with the upper bar being the shorter, though variations with the bars of equal length are also seen. The Lorraine name has come to signify several cross variations, including the Patriarchal cross with its bars near the top. The Cross of Lorraine came to the Duchy of Lorraine via the Kingdom of Hungary in the 15th century. Similar two-barred cross symbols prominently feature in heraldry from Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. Its ultimate origins are from the crozier of an Archbishop. The Cross of Lorraine was used as a symbol of Free France during World War II and was earlier used by French patriots to signify desire to reclaim provinces lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War.
The national emblem of Belarus features a ribbon in the colors of the national flag, a silhouette of Belarus, wheat ears and a red star. It is sometimes referred to as the coat of arms of Belarus, although in heraldic terms this is inaccurate as the emblem does not respect the rules of conventional heraldry. The emblem is an allusion to one that was used by the Byelorussian SSR, designed by Ivan Dubasov in 1950, with the biggest change being a replacement of the Communist hammer and sickle with a silhouette of Belarus. The Belarusian name is Dziaržaŭny hierb Respubliki Biełaruś, and the name in Russian is Gosudarstvennyĭ gerb Respubliki Belarusʹ.
Belarus is an Eastern European country with a rich tradition of folk and religious music. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The country's musical traditions spread with its people to countries like Russia, Canada, United States, Kazakhstan and Latvia. The people of Belarus were exposed mostly to Russian pop music during this period and also after independence in 1991. In 2002, however, President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree requiring 50% of all FM broadcast music to be Belarusian in origin, and since 1 January 2005 the rule has been even stricter. However, it does not regulate the language of the songs, so most of the music which is broadcast is still in Russian.
The coat of arms of Lithuania is a mounted armoured knight holding a sword and shield, known as Vytis. Since the early 15th century, it has been Lithuania's official coat of arms and is one of the oldest European coats of arms. It is also known by other names in various languages, such as Waykimas, Pagaunė in the Lithuanian language or as Pogonia, Pogoń, Пагоня in the Polish, and Belarusian languages, meaning "Chase". Vytis is translatable as Chaser, Pursuer, Knight, Horseman, similar to the Slavic vityaz. Historically – raitas senovės karžygys or in heraldry – raitas valdovas.
The Belarusian People's Republic, also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The Council proclaimed the Belarusian Democratic Republic independent in its Third Constituent Charter on 25 March 1918 during the occupation of contemporary Belarus by the Imperial German Army.
The Patriarchal cross is a variant of the Christian cross, the religious symbol of Christianity, and is also known as the Cross of Lorraine. Similar to the Latin cross, the patriarchal cross possesses a smaller crossbar placed above the main one so that both crossbars are near the top. Sometimes the patriarchal cross has a short, slanted crosspiece near its foot. This slanted, lower crosspiece often appears in Byzantine Greek and Eastern European iconography, as well as in other Eastern Orthodox churches. In most renditions of the Cross of Lorraine, the horizontal bars are "graded" with the upper bar being the shorter, though variations with the bars of equal length are also seen.
The Columns of Gediminas or Pillars of Gediminas are one of the earliest symbols of Lithuania and its historical coats of arms. They were used in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, initially as a rulers' personal insignia, a state symbol, and later as a part of heraldic signs of leading aristocracy.
Minsk Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division and local government in Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1566 and later in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, until the partitions of the Commonwealth in 1793. Centred on the city of Minsk and subordinate to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the region continued the traditions – and shared the borders – of several previously existing units of administrative division, notably a separate Duchy of Minsk, annexed by Lithuania in the 13th century. It was replaced with Minsk Governorate in 1793.
Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich was a Belarusian poet, journalist, translator, literary critic and historian of literature. He is considered one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature.
Upon the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union, the country resurrected national symbols that were used before the Soviet era. These included a flag of red and white stripes and a coat of arms consisting of a charging knight on horseback. These national symbols were replaced by Soviet-era symbols in a disputed 1995 vote. Those two symbols, along with the national anthem, are the constitutionally defined national symbols of Belarus.
The Belarusian history within the Russian Empire is associated with the history of Belarus from the Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to the October Revolution when the present-day Belarus' lands were made part of the Russian Empire.
Pahonia is a Belarusian patriotic song based on the eponymous poem by Maksim Bahdanovič.
Anatol Tsitou was a Belarusian historian and heraldist, known for his research of Belarusian heraldry.
Aliaksei Shalanda, Candidate of Sciences, is a Belarusian historian and heraldist.
The Ruthenian lion, also known as the Ukrainian lion or Galicianlion, is a golden lion on an azure background. The lion was featured on the historic coat of arms of the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia (Ruthenia), the Ruthenian Voivodeship and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. During the revolutions in the Austrian Empire in 1848, it was restored as one of the national symbols of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian national liberation movement. Today it is featured on the coat of arms of the city of Lviv and its surrounding province, Lviv Oblast.
The white-red-white flag is a historical flag used by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918 before Western Belarus was occupied by the Second Polish Republic and Eastern Belarus was occupied by the Bolsheviks. The flag was then used by the Belarusian national movement in Western Belarus followed by widespread unofficial use during the German occupation of Belarus between 1941 and 1944, and again after it regained its independence in 1991 until the 1995 referendum.
The coat of arms of Smolensk is the official heraldic symbol of the city of Smolensk, Smolensk region, Russia. A bird Gamayun on a sable cannon with an or gun carriage is depicted on an argent escutcheon. The coat of arms is embellished with a number of honourable decorations that depict the history of the city.