The

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 ...

of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

first appears on one of the medieval chairs in

Kirkjubøur Kirkjubøur ( da, Kirkebø) is the southernmost village on Streymoy, Faroe Islands. The village is located on the south-west coast of Streymoy and has a view towards the islands of Hestur and Koltur towards the west, and to Sandoy towards the sout ...

from around the 15th century. It depicts a silver

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

() passant with golden hooves and horns on an azure shield. Later uses show a ram in a

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

used by the ', members of the Old Faroese law Court, the

Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; da, Lagtinget) is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm. The name literally means "''Law Thing''"—that is, a law assembly—and derives from Old Norse ''l ...

. When the Løgting was abolished in 1816, the coat of arms went out of use, not appearing even after the Løgting was reestablished in 1852 and the Faroe Islands were effectively outside direct Danish rule during the British occupation in World War II. In 1948, the coat of arms came into use again after the Home Rule Act came into force, not by the

(Parliament) but by the Landsstýri (Government). The old title Løgmaður had been reestablished, but this time as the leader of the government, and the coat of arms followed him. On 1 April 2004, the Prime Minister's Office announced that from then on that it would use a new version of the coat of arms. This new interpretation was based on the original found depicted on the chairs from

. The colours were inspired from the Faroese flag ', and golden yellow was added. The new coat of arms depicts a ram on a blue shield ready to defend. It can be used by Cabinet Ministries and by official Faroese representatives, though some still use the old symbol. File:Faroe Coat of arms 1533.png, Old seal from 1533. File:Faroe Coat of arms 3.png, Former government seal (or emblem) File:Sendistova Föroya (Copenhagen).jpg, Coat of arms at the Faroese Embassy in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

References

{{Authority control National symbols of the Faroe Islands