The coat of arms of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

features the

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

officially named as "Saint Michael the Archistrategos" (archistrategos, chief-general in the Ancient Greece), wielding a flaming

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

and a shield on an azure field.

History

The coat of arms traces its history back to the medieval principality of

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

, where the Archangel Michael was depicted on the seals used by the Kievan

grand prince Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) ( la, magnus princeps; Greek: ''megas archon''; russian: великий князь, velikiy knyaz) is a title of nobility ranked in honour below emperor, equal of king or ...

s. Initially the coat of arms of Kyiv featured

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

fighting a dragon on an azure field, and this today remains the coat of arms of the

Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast ( uk, Ки́ївська о́бласть, translit=Kyïvska oblast), also called Kyivshchyna ( uk, Ки́ївщина), is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, w ...

. In the 16th century, a coat consisting of the Archangel Michael clad in white robes, holding a sword and a

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...

on a red field was adopted for the

Kyiv Voivodeship The Kiev Voivodeship ( pl, województwo kijowskie, la, Palatinatus Kioviensis, uk, Київське воєводство, ''Kyjivśke vojevodstvo'') was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. In 1487, along with

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

, the city of

received a coat of arms consisting of a hand holding a

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...

. In 1782, a new coat of arms was approved by the order of

Catherine II of Russia , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

. In the order the coat of arms is described as "Archangel Michael in a short tunic on an azure field". Later on it was decorated with an imperial crown and other ornaments. No original image of the arms has been recovered to date. Some modern drawings of the arms exist, based on the description in Catherine's order. In 1918, during the short time of Ukrainian independence, a coat of arms was adopted which contained, in addition to the Archangel Michael and the crossbow, a

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

from the

Coat of arms of Ukraine The coat of arms of Ukraine is a blue shield with a gold trident. Officially referred to as the ''Emblem of the Royal State of Volodymyr the Great'', or, colloquially, the ''tryzub'' ( uk, тризуб), the insignia derives from the seal-tri ...

, emphasizing the city's role as the nation's capital. In 1969, a coat of arms was introduced with

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

leaves"Thujoy Khreshchatyk". Why Kyivans miss chestnuts and how they became a symbol of the capital

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...

(29 May 2019) and a bow on the red-azure field, containing the word КИЇВ (''KYIV''), and such Soviet symbols as the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: "☭") zh, s=锤子和镰刀, p=Chuízi hé liándāo or zh, s=镰刀锤子, p=Liándāo chuízi, labels=no is a symbol meant to represent proletarian solidarity, a union between agricultural and industri ...

and the Hero City medal. Since 1973 the

horse-chestnut ''Aesculus hippocastanum'', the horse chestnut, is a species of flowering plant in the maple, soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large, deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree. It is also called horse-chestnut, Europe ...

leave became one of the symbols of the city. In May 1995, the

Kyiv City Council Kyiv City Council ( uk, Київська міська рада, translit=Kyivska miska rada), also known as Kyivrada ( uk, Київрада), is the city council of Kyiv municipality, the highest representative body of the city community. The me ...

restored the city's original coat of arms depicting the Archangel Michael.

Gallery

Image:COA of Kiev 1480.png, Kyiv Coat of Arms (1480). Image:Kyiv. Carsly Tytulyarnyk.png, Kyiv land Coat of Arms (1672). Image:Kiev magistrat 1698.svg, Kyiv city magistrate Coat of Arms (1698, on the seal). image:Герб Киева 1782 (Винклер) crop.png, Kyiv Coat of Arms (1782; restored based on historical description). image:Киевская губерния изд Сукачова.png,

Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate, r=Kievskaya guberniya; uk, Київська губернія, Kyivska huberniia (, ) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It wa ...

Coat of Arms (1856). Image:Kiev coat of arms draft -1859.jpg, Kyiv Coat of Arms (1859, project). Image:Kiev coat of arms -1917.gif, Kyiv Coat of Arms (1917). image:Coat of Arms of Kyiv 1969-1995.svg, Kyiv Coat of Arms (1969—1995).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyiv

Coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

Ukrainian coats of arms Coats of arms of cities in Ukraine

Michael (archangel)

History

Gallery

See also

References