The coat of arms of the Slovak Republic consists of a red (gules) shield, in early Gothic style, charged with a silver (argent) double cross standing on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. Extremities of the cross are amplified, and its ends are concaved. The double cross is a symbol of its Christian faith and the hills represent three symbolic mountain ranges: Tatra, Fatra (made up of the Veľká Fatra and Malá Fatra ranges), and Matra (in Hungary).
In 1990, the Slovak Interior Ministry tasked Ladislav Čisárik (a painter and heraldic artist) and Ladislav Vrtel (an expert in heraldry) with creating a new coat of arms and national flag in the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution.[1][2][3] Čisárik and Vrtel based their designs for a modern coat of arms and flag on an existing 14th century Hungarian coat of arms,[1][2] it was based on the seal of King Louis I of Hungary.[4][5] However, Čisárik and Vrtel chose to enlarge the double cross three times to emphasize it as a national symbol.[1][2] In addition to the national coat of arms and the national flag, the duo also designed a new presidential standard, which incorporates the double cross as well.[1][2]
Double cross
One of the modern interpretations of the double cross is that it represents Slovakia as an heir and guardian of Christian tradition,[6] brought to the region by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, two missionaries from the Byzantine Empire.
The two-barred cross in the Slovak coat of arms originated in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire in the 9th century. Unlike the Christian cross, the symbolism and meaning of the double cross is not well understood. One interpretation is that the first horizontal line symbolized the secular power and the other horizontal line the ecclesiastic power of Byzantine emperors. Another that the first cross represents the death and the second cross the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Byzantine Empire of the 9th century, the double cross was a political symbol used by Byzantine clerks and missionaries.[6]
The Byzantine double cross on great Moravian rings
The double cross arrived in the territory of current-day Slovakia probably no later than during the 9th century mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia.[6] Though used frequently in Great Moravia, it was not a state symbol at that time, because there were no state symbols in the modern sense in Europe at that time yet. By means of Zwentibold (the ruler of Lorraine, son of the German emperor Arnulf of Carinthia and godchild of the Great Moravian king Svatopluk I), this symbol got to Lorraine and is called the cross of Lorraine there.[6]
The double cross symbol appeared again in rudimentary features on the first coins that Stephen I, the first king of the Kingdom of Hungary (part of which now forms the territory of present-day Slovakia), had minted at an unknown place. Before he became king in 1000, he was the Grand Prince of the Principality of Hungary and was living there with his Bavarian wife Gisella. The frequent opinion that the double cross was a cross that the Pope granted to Stephen I. around 1000 is still disputed. The opinion arose only in the 15th century based on a legend from the 12th century, which in addition only says that Stephen received an apostolic cross (i.e. a normal, not a double cross).[6]
The direct predecessor of the current coat of arms of Slovakia can be found in the coat of arms used by Béla, the prince of the Hungarian Duchy (1046–1060) and later King of Hungary. Béla was a member of the house of Árpáds and was named after the Prague bishop Adalbert, who had baptized King Stephen, the cousin of Béla's father, some decades earlier. Béla conducted his own internal and international policy in his Nitrian frontier principality.[6] The Byzantine emperor, involved in a quarrel with the Hungarian king, even sent Béla a prince's crown to Nitra. Furthermore, Béla had own coins minted in 1050 in Nitra, the capital of his principality – coins which deliberately differed from those of the Hungarian king and which bore the double cross symbol.[6]
The appearance of the double cross in coins before Béla III is highly disputed. According to recent view It is a simple misinterpretation of two normal crosses.[7]
It was only 100 years later, around 1189, that the double cross is known to have been used again – it was used during a crusade of the Hungarian king Béla III as his royal symbol. The three hills seen in the modern Slovak and Hungarian coats of arms were still not present in the standard. This time, the symbol was already used as a coat of arms, because coats of arms became fashionable in Europe at that time. He chose the symbol, because it was a Christian symbol and because it was the oldest symbol used in his kingdom.
Béla's successors Emeric and Andrew II, however, did not use anymore the double cross, which was associated with the Nitrian frontier principality situated in the northern part of the kingdom and dissolved in 1107, as their symbol, but they used a red-and-white-stripes symbol associated with the House of Árpáds (see the coat of arms of Hungary for a picture).
King Béla IV used the patriarchal cross again – the reasons for this decision are unknown. Some historians suggest that he simply copied Béla III, his ideal, though this is only an assumption. At the time of his rule, the patriarchal cross also became the symbol of the Pozsony (Prešporok, Bratislava or Pressburg) county, although in a slightly modified form.
The last Árpád king, Andrew III (1290–1301), used only the patriarchal cross.
During the throne struggles after 1301, Ladislaus used the double cross as his symbol (see chapter "Three hills" for details), while Charles Robert of Anjou (1307–1342) used a bipartite coat of arms consisting of the Angevin symbol and the above-mentioned stripes symbol of King Stephen V, whose daughter Maria Charles Robert had married.
After the Mongol invasion in 1241–1242 many of the newly founded towns in the Kingdom of Hungary received the right to use the royal double cross as their coat of arms. The first, biggest and most towns of the kingdom arose in present-day Slovakia[citation needed] - the part of the kingdom that was characterized by German settlers, extensive mining activities and thus the most advanced economy at that time. It was probably partly due to this use in municipal coats of arm that the double cross became a clear symbol of the northern part of the kingdom again from the 15th century onwards and Upper Hungary from the 18th century.[6]
From the late 14th century onwards (according to other sources from the 13th century), the double cross symbol was used both as a symbol for northern parts of the Kingdom ("partes Danubii septentrionales, partes regni superiores", i.e. approximately the territory of present-day Slovakia and northeastern Hungary) and as a symbol of kings of the Kingdom of Hungary. For example, the state symbol of Louis the Great (1342–1382) was a quartered coat of arms containing among other symbols the symbol of Charles Robert of Anjou (containing in turn the stripes symbol) as the symbol for the southern parts of the kingdom ("partes regni inferiores") and the symbol for northern parts of the Kingdom (the double cross symbol). A good example of the double meaning of the double cross symbol is the great seal of King Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387–1437): This seal contains the double cross symbol in the middle, surrounded by a circle of smaller coats of arms of territories under his rule. These smaller coats of arms include the double cross symbol (for a second time!) as the symbol of what is today Slovakia and the stripes symbol as the symbol for Pannonia.[6]
Since 1526, when the Habsburgs became kings of the Kingdom of Hungary, the current "combined" coat of arms of Hungary including the double cross symbol and the stripes symbol was used as the symbol of the Kingdom of Hungary (except that the small crown below the double cross was added only in the 17th century).
Three hills
The triple peak represents the three mountain ranges Tatra, Matra and Fatra which symbolized the northern mountainous part of the Kingdom of Hungary. (The Tatra and the Fatra ranges are in present day Slovakia.) This interpretation is probably the oldest and most frequent one – it can be traced back to the 16th century, but stems probably from the 15th century. According to István Werbőczy's "Tripartitum" from 16th century, the heaps represent the mountains in this order.
The three mountains below the double cross were used by King Ladislaus (1301–1305), who was crowned king of Hungary, but was a Czech from the house of the Přemyslids.
Symbol of the Slovaks
Origins and colours
Not later than in the 16th century, the Slovaks started viewing the double cross also as a symbol of their nation.[6] This fact manifested itself during the Revolution of 1848/1849, Slovaks were fighting along with the Austrians against the Hungarians (though many Slovaks chose to defend the Hungarian case). A "Slovak National Council" was established for this purpose in August 1848 in Vienna. The present-day coat of arms was used on the seal of this Slovak National Council for the first time officially as the national symbol of the Slovaks (instead of being the official symbol of Upper Hungary only). From that time onwards, the symbol has been used very frequently.
As for the colors, the colors are supposed to be the three "Slavic" colors red-white-blue (Slavic tricolor). Since the Upper Hungary coat of arms was already part of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary at that time, only the color of the three mountains had to be changed (it happened on the Slovak flag for the first time) from green to "blue" to receive the red-white-blue combination.
As for the origin of the red color (in the Slovak and in the Hungarian coat of arms), the coat of arms has often had the red color as an almost inseparable attendant of the double cross in the coats of many Hungarian and Slovak towns since the Middle Ages. Also, the coat of arms of Béla III. is thought to have had red background. In general, red background color was used frequently for coats of arms in the late 12th and early 13th century in central Europe. One of the modern interpretations of the color is that it represents the bloody lining and symbolizes the Slovak 'martyrdom' during the time of Magyarisation (19th century).[citation needed]
The color of the three mountains was originally green but in 1848 the Slovak National Council used it as blue in accordance with the Slavic tricolor.
In 1945, it became part of Czechoslovakia's coat of arms again. From 1960 to 1990 the symbol was officially forbidden, because it was interpreted by the Communists as the symbol of the fascist Slovak State. The old coat of arms was replaced in the Czechoslovak coat of arms by an artificial symbol consisting of Mt. Kriváň and three flames. The three flames were supposed to symbolize the Slovak National Uprising of 1944.
On 1 March 1990, after the Velvet Revolution, the old coat of arms became the official symbol of the "Slovak Republic", which was still part of Czechoslovakia. Based on the Constitution of the Slovak Republic of September 3, 1992, the same coat of arms became the symbol of independent Slovakia, which arose on January 1, 1993. A law of February 18, 1993, precised the details of the coat of arms: for example, though not explicitly defined in the coat's blazon in the past, during the World War II era the cross mostly used to be depicted with convex endings of the stake and the bars; therefore the new description clearly reads to depict them as concave.
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 (1848–1849)
Coat of Arms of Czechoslovak Legion, which was used before creation of official Czechoslovak symbols. Occasionally it was depicted with green hills (1914–1920)
Lesser coat of arms of Czechoslovakia (1920–1939) (1945–1960)
Middle coat of arms of Czechoslovakia (1920–1939) (1945–1960)
Greater coat of arms of Czechoslovakia (1920–1939) (1945–1960)
The national flag of Greece, popularly referred to as the "turquoise and white one" or the "azure and white", is officially recognised by Greece as one of its national symbols and has 5 equal horizontal stripes of blue alternating with white. There is a blue canton in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a white cross; the cross symbolises Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The blazon of the flag is Azure, four bars Argent; on a canton of the field a Greek cross throughout of the second. The official flag ratio is 2:3. The shade of blue used in the flag has varied throughout its history, from light blue to dark blue, the latter being increasingly used since the late 1960s. It was officially adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus on 13 January 1822.
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 theorised to be Byzantine. 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 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 Italian 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 colors. Pictured to the left of centre of the flag is Slovakia's national coat of arms.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Serbia consists of two main heraldic symbols which represent the identity of the Serbian state and Serbian people across the centuries: the Serbian eagle and the Serbian cross. The coat of arms also features the Serbian historical crown; while unusual for republics, it is not unprecedented, as can be seen in coat of arms of numerous European countries with republican form of government.
The coat of arms of Ukraine is a blue shield with a golden trident. It is colloquially known as the tryzub.
The star and crescent is a symbol which is a conjoined representation of a crescent and a star. It is used in various historical contexts, including as a prominent symbol of the Ottoman Empire, and in contemporary times, as a national symbol by some countries, and as a symbol of Islam. It was developed in the Greek colony of Byzantium ca. 300 BC, though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator after he incorporated Byzantium into his kingdom for a short period. During the 5th century, it was present in coins minted by the Persian Sassanian Empire; the symbol was represented in the coins minted across the empire throughout the Middle East for more than 400 years from the 3rd century until the fall of the Sassanians after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the 7th century. The conquering Muslim rulers kept the symbol in their coinage during the early years of the caliphate, as the coins were exact replicas of the Sassanian coins.
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 familiar 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 Serbian cross, also known as the Firesteels, is one of national symbols of Serbia. It is present on the coat of arms and flag of Serbia. The cross is based on a tetragrammic cross emblem of the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, with the difference in Serbian use being that the cross is usually white on a red background, rather than gold on a red background.
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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.
Dunajská Streda (Slovak pronunciation:[ˈdunajskaːˈstreda] ; Hungarian: Dunaszerdahely; German: Niedermarkt; 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 Iceland displays a silver-edged, red cross on blue shield, alluding to the design of the flag of Iceland. It is the only national arms to feature four supporters: the four protectors of Iceland (landvættir) as described in Heimskringla, standing on a block of columnar basalt. The bull (Griðungur) is the protector of northwestern Iceland, the eagle or griffin (Gammur) protects northeastern Iceland, the dragon (Dreki) protects the southeastern part, and the rock-giant (Bergrisi) is the protector of southwestern Iceland. Great respect was given to these creatures of Iceland, so much that there was a law during the time of the Vikings that no ship should bear grimacing symbols when approaching Iceland. This was so the protectors would not be provoked unnecessarily.
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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.
The coat of arms of Carpatho-Ukraine is the official heraldic coat of arms of Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine. The coat of arms was initially adopted on 30 March 1920 along with coat of arms of other lands of Czechoslovakia. The Ukrainian version of the arms was adopted on 18 December 1990 as a revived coat of arms by Hungarian graphic artist Janos Reiti.
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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
