The coat of arms of the Slovak Republic consists of a red (''gules'') shield, in early Gothic style, charged with a

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

(''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 Malá Fatra (; also Little Fatra or Lesser Fatra, pl, Mała Fatra, hu, Kis-Fátra) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.Craig ...

ranges), and

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

(in northern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

Modern design history

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 The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

. Čisárik and Vrtel based their designs for a modern coat of arms and flag on an existing 14th Century coat of arms. However, Čisárik and Vrtel chose to enlarge the double cross three times to emphasize it as a national symbol. 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.

Double cross

One of the modern interpretations of the double cross is that it represents Slovakia as an heir and guardian of Christian tradition, brought to the region by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, two missionaries from the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. 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 Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

power and the other horizontal line the

ecclesiastic {{Short pages monitor 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 Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

from the house of the Přemyslids.

Symbol of the Slovaks

Origins and colors

Not later than in the 16th century, the Slovaks regarded the double cross also as a symbol of their nation. 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 The Slovak National Council ( sk, Slovenská národná rada (SNR)) was an organisation that was formed at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries to act as the highest representative of the Slovak nation. It originated in the mid-19th century ...

" 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 The current form of the national flag of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Vlajka Slovenskej republiky) 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-Slav ...

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). 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.

20th century

In 1918,

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

troops began occupying northern Hungary in accordance with the territorial promises that the

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...

made to Czechoslovak politicians during World War I. However, Slovakia (

Upper Hungary Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...

) was occupied by Hungarian troops from the

Hungarian Soviet Republic The Socialist Federative Republic of Councils in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Szocialista Szövetséges Tanácsköztársaság) (due to an early mistranslation, it became widely known as the Hungarian Soviet Republic in English-language sources ( ...

, who set up the

Slovak Soviet Republic The Slovak Soviet Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika rád, hu, Szlovák Tanácsköztársaság, uk, Словацька Радянська Республіка, literally: 'Slovak Republic of Councils') was a short-lived Communist state in sout ...

as a puppet regime. Its emblem was the red star, a symbol of communism. Following a brief war between Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania, Slovakia was incorporated into Czechoslovakia. In 1920 the Slovak coat of arms became part of the state coat of arms of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Between 1939 and 1945, it was the state symbol of the

First Slovak Republic First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

. 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 Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

. 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 The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...

of 1944. On 1 March 1990, after the

, the old coat of arms became the official symbol of the "Slovak Republic", which was still part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. Based on the Constitution of the Slovak Republic of September 3, 1992, the same coat of arms became the symbol of independent

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, 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 heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The vi ...

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. The coat of arms is used by the

Slovak Air Force The Slovak Air Force, known since 2002 as the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Vzdušné sily Ozbrojených síl Slovenskej republiky), is the aviation and air defense branch of the Slovak Armed Forces. Operating 23 airc ...

as its

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of diff ...

. Since 1992 the coat of arms is also placed on the

Part of other symbols

In the 13th century King Béla III declared the double cross (ex post) a symbol of Saint Ladislaus (King

Ladislaus I of Hungary Ladislaus I ( hu, László, hr, Ladislav, sk, Ladislav, pl, Władysław; 1040 – 29 July 1095), also known as Saint Ladislas, was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the second son of King Béla I of Hungary and ...

). In 1386, it became part of the coat of arms of the house of Jagiello, because

Grand Duke of Lithuania The monarchy of Lithuania concerned the monarchical head of state of Kingdom of Lithuania, Lithuania, which was established as an Absolute monarchy, absolute and hereditary monarchy. Throughout Lithuania's history there were three Duke, ducal D ...

Jogaila took over the alleged coat of arms of Saint Ladislaus when being baptized as Ladislaus (Wladyslaw). By means of the Jagiellons, the symbol also got into the coat of arms of Lithuania. The

President of Slovakia The president of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Prezident Slovenskej republiky) is the head of state of Slovakia and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the people for five years, and can be elected for ...

uses a banner of these arms.

Historical coat of arms

References

External links

Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Slovakia
{{Coats of arms of Europe

National symbols of Slovakia