The coat of arms of the

City of Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

( mk, Грб на Скопје) is an emblem in the form of a renaissance shield, depicting the

Šar Mountains The Šar Mountains ( Serbian and mk, Шар Планина, Šar Planina, colloquially also ) or Sharr Mountains ( sq, Malet e Sharrit), form a mountain range in the Balkans that extends from Kosovo and the northwest of North Macedonia to nort ...

, the

Skopje Fortress The Skopje Fortress ( mk, Скопско кале, translit=Skopsko kale; ; tr, Üsküp Kalesi), commonly referred to as Kale (from ''kale'', the Turkish word for 'fortress'), is a historic fortress located in the old town of Skopje, the capital ...

, the

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

river and the Stone Bridge, all important landmarks of the city and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

as a whole.

Replacement proposals

The coat of arms of Skopje has been categorized as "near-heraldic" in the

Macedonian Heraldic Society The Macedonian Heraldic Society (MHS) is the only professional body in the field of heraldry, vexillology, phaleristics, chivalristics and nobiliar issues in North Macedonia. The society was founded on 2 July 2003 in Skopje under the name Maced ...

's review of municipal symbols in Macedonia due to being a landscape composition with several charges. The society had suggested a heraldic revision of the symbol, which resulted in several alternative proposals. However the proposals haven't gotten to the point of being considered by the government and Bulgarians wanted to be changed.

Proposal by Aleksandar Kurov

In 2006, heraldic artist, Aleksandar Kurov designed a version of the coat of arms of Skopje with some modified elements and completely new illustration style, this proposal later appeared in the 7th issue of "Macedonian Herald" courtesy of the

Proposal by the Macedonian Heraldic Society

In 2020, on the occasion of the liberation of Skopje, the

published a design inspired by Aleksandar Kurov's proposal, but this time with greater attention to the

Rule of tincture The most basic rule of heraldic design is the rule of tincture: metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour (Humphrey Llwyd, 1568). This means that the heraldic metals or and argent (gold and silver, represented by yellow and white) s ...

, the design also used the

Macedonian territorial heraldic system Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

, as such it featured a mural crown of the capital city and a wreath of

Macedonian oak ''Quercus trojana'', the Macedonian oak is an oak in the turkey oak section ( ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''). It is native to southeast Europe and southwest Asia, from southern Italy east across the southern Balkans (Croatia, Albania, Serbia, No ...

Historical versions

File:Grbot na Skopje, od vreme na Kralstvoto Yugoslavia.jpg, “Proposal” for arms of the city of Skopje,

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes Kingdom commonly refers to: * A monarchy ruled by a king or queen * Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy Kingdom may also refer to: Arts and media Television * ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...

, 1928 File:Coat of arms of Skopje during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.jpg, The coat of arms of the City of Skopje, engraved on a book cover of the collection of King Alexander Karadjordjevic, the design also appears on the

Vardar Banovina The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( mk, Вардарска бановина, Vardarska banovina; sr, Вардарска бановина, translit=Vardarska Banovina; al, Banovina e Vardarit, italics=no), was a province (banate) of the King ...

fire brigade diploma, before 1934

References

{{reflist

Culture in Skopje History of Skopje

Replacement proposals

Proposal by Aleksandar Kurov

Proposal by the Macedonian Heraldic Society

Historical versions

See also

References