Géza, also Gejza, was Grand Prince of the Hungarians from the early 970s. He was the son of Grand Prince Taksony and his Oriental—Khazar, Pecheneg or Volga Bulgarian—wife. He married Sarolt, a daughter of an Eastern Orthodox Hungarian chieftain. After ascending the throne, Géza made peace with the Holy Roman Empire. Within Hungary, he consolidated his authority with extreme cruelty, according to the unanimous narration of nearly contemporaneous sources. He was the first Hungarian monarch to support Christian missionaries from Western Europe. Although he was baptised, his Christian faith remained shallow and he continued to perform acts of pagan worship. He was succeeded by his son Stephen, who was crowned the first King of Hungary in 1000 or 1001.
The history of Slovakia dates back to the findings of ancient human artifacts. This article shows the history of the country from prehistory to the present day.
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.
Žilina is a city in north-western Slovakia, around 170 kilometres (110 mi) from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of Slovakia with a population of approximately 80,000, an important industrial center, the largest city on the Váh river, and the seat of a kraj and of an okres. It belongs to the Upper Váh region of tourism.
The Turul is a mythological bird of prey, mostly depicted as a falcon, in Hungarian tradition and Turkic tradition, and a national symbol of Hungarians.
The national flag of Hungary is a horizontal tricolour of red, white and green. In this exact form, it has been the official flag of Hungary since 23 May 1957. The flag's form originates from national republican movements of the 18th and 19th centuries, while its colours are from the Middle Ages. The current Hungarian tricolour flag is the same as the republican movement flag of the United Kingdom and the colours in that form were already used at least since the coronation of Leopold II in 1790, predating the first use of the Cispadane Republic's tricolour in 1797.
The flag of the Czech Republic is the same as the flag of the former Czechoslovakia. Upon the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in December 1992, the Czech Republic kept the Czechoslovak flag while Slovakia adopted its own flag. The first flag of Czechoslovakia was based on the flag of Bohemia and was white over red. This was almost identical to the flag of Poland, so a blue triangle was added at the hoist in 1920. The flag was banned by the Nazis in 1939 as they established a government nominally in control of Bohemia and Moravia, and a horizontal tricolour of white, red, and blue was used for the duration of the war. The 1920–1939 flag was restored in 1945.
The current form of the national flag of the Slovak Republic was adopted by Slovakia's Constitution, which came into force on 3 September 1992. The flag, like many other flags of Slavic nations, uses Pan-Slavic colours. Pictured to the left of centre of the flag is Slovakia's national coat of arms.
The Árpád dynasty consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád, also known as Árpáds. They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1301. The dynasty was named after the Hungarian Grand Prince Árpád who was the head of the Hungarian tribal federation during the conquest of the Carpathian Basin, c. 895. Previously, it was referred to as the Turul dynasty or kindred.
The coat of arms of Ukraine is a blue shield with a golden trident. It is colloquially known as the tryzub.
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 coat of arms of Hungary was adopted on 11 July 1990, after the end of communist rule. The arms have been used before, both with and without the Holy Crown of Hungary, sometimes as part of a larger, more complex coat of arms, and its elements date back to the Middle Ages.
The double-headed eagle is an iconographic symbol originating in the Bronze Age. A heraldic charge, it is used with the concept of an empire. Most modern uses of the emblem are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantine Empire, originally a dynastic emblem of the Palaiologoi. It was adopted during the Late Medieval to Early Modern period in the Holy Roman Empire, Albania and in Orthodox principalities, representing an augmentation of the (single-headed) eagle or Aquila associated with the Roman Empire. In a few places, among them the Holy Roman Empire and Russia, the motif was further augmented to create the less prominent triple-headed eagle.
Andrew I the White or the Catholic was King of Hungary from 1046 to 1060. He descended from a younger branch of the Árpád dynasty. After he spent fifteen years in exile, an extensive revolt by the pagan Hungarians enabled him to take the throne from King Peter Orseolo. He strengthened the position of Catholicism in the Kingdom of Hungary and successfully defended its independence against the Holy Roman Empire.
Dunajská Streda is a town located in southern Slovakia. Dunajská Streda is the most culturally significant town in the Žitný ostrov area. The town has a population of 22,730, with ethnic Hungarians forming the 72% majority.
The coat of arms of Czechoslovakia were changed many times during Czechoslovakia’s history, some alongside each other. This reflects the turbulent history of the country and a wish to use appropriate territorial coats of arms.
Hungarian heraldry generally follows German heraldry in its artistic forms, but has its own distinctive character. It is classified to Central and Eastern European heraldry.
Árpád stripes is the name of a particular heraldic and vexillologic configuration which has been in constant use since the early 13th century in particular in Hungarian heraldry. It can be seen in the left half of the current coat of arms of Hungary.
Ladislav Čisárik was a Slovak heraldic artist, painter, and graphic designer. In 1990, Ladislav Čisárik and Ladislav Vrtel co-designed the coat of arms of Slovakia, the current flag of Slovakia, and the presidential standard of the president of Slovakia. He also designed or modified the coat of arms and seals for more than 100 towns and municipalities in Slovakia.
The history of Christianity in Hungary started in the Roman province of Pannonia, centuries before the arrival of the Magyars, or Hungarians.
This flag from the Slovak Uprising of 1848 was one of the first depictions of Slovak coat of arms with three hills in blue colour. On this flag, whole Hungarian coat of arms was adopted, along with Árpád stripes
Coat of arms of Slovak Soviet Republic
Coat of Arms of Czechoslovak Legion, which was used before creation of official Czechoslovak symbols. Occasionally it was depicted with green hills
Coat of arms of Autonomous Slovak land within the Second Czechoslovak Republic
Coat of arms of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Coat of arms of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic
