Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1927-1946).svg
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The coat of arms of Bulgaria ( bg, Герб на България ) consists of a crowned golden lion rampant over a dark red
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 ...
; above the shield is the Bulgarian historical crown. The shield is supported by two crowned golden lions rampant; below the shield there is
compartment Compartment may refer to: Biology * Compartment (anatomy), a space of connective tissue between muscles * Compartment (chemistry), in which different parts of the same protein serves different functions * Compartment (development), fields of cells ...
in the shape of oak twigs and white bands with the national motto " Unity makes strength" inscribed on them.


Description

The current coat of arms of Bulgaria was adopted in 1997. The current arms are a slightly redesigned version of the coat of arms of Bulgaria from the period 1927–1946. Those arms were based on a similar earlier form, firstly used by
Tsar Ferdinand I Ferdinand ( bg, Фердинанд I; 26 February 1861 – 10 September 1948),#Louda1981, Louda, 1981, ''Lines of Succession'', Table 149 born Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Фердинанд Максимили ...
(1887–1918) as his personal ruler's coat of arms. The previous emblem, which combined the traditional gold lion rampant with the pattern of the coat of arms of the Soviet Union, was abandoned since Communist rule ended in the country in 1989. The new Constitution of Bulgaria, adopted in 1991, describes the Bulgarian coat of arms as follows: For many years, agreement on the design of the coat of arms was a source of great controversy in the Bulgarian government, as different parties argued over the design elements. The final design was legitimized in the Law for the coat of arms of the Republic of Bulgaria of 4 August 1997:


History

The earliest example of a lion's image as the heraldic symbol of Bulgaria is documented in the ''Lord Marshal's Roll'', composed around 1294 AD and preserved in a copy from about 1640. In its first part under №15 is represented the coat of arms of ''Le Rey de Bugrie'' or the King of Bulgaria, most probably this of Tsar Smilets (1292–1298) or may be some of his recent predecessors. It consists of an argent lion rampant with golden crown over sable shield. In the end of 14th century an anonymous Arab traveller, who visited the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire Tarnovo, saw and depicted three lions guardant passant gules painted on the round golden shields carried by the personal guards of Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–1395). His manuscript is now kept in the National Library of Morocco. After 1396, when all Bulgarian lands were subjugated by the Ottoman Empire but the Bulgarian crown was not given to the Ottoman Dynasty formally, the latter Bulgarian heraldic type as a sign of symbolically independent state was preserved in several European and Balkan collections of coats of arms. Gradually, new and in some cases quite different versions appeared, but the lion remained the most widespread heraldic symbol of Bulgaria and its rulers. In the Illyrian collection of Korenich-Neorich from 1595 the three walking lions, usual for some earlier Western Europe's collections, were replaced by one red lion rampant over golden crowned shield. In the beginning of the 18th century the Croatian heraldist
Pavao Ritter Vitezović Pavao Ritter Vitezović (; 7 January 1652 – 20 January 1713) was a Habsburg-Croatian polymath, variously described as a historian, linguist, publisher, poet, political theorist, diplomat, printmaker, draughtsman, cartographer, writer and printe ...
in two editions of his heraldic collection from 1701 and 1702 reversed the colours of this type and thus the lion became golden and the shield dark red. This variant was adopted by the famous painter Hristofor Zhefarovich in his ''Stemmatographia'', printed in 1741. His version became the most influential among Bulgarian intellectuals and revolutionaries in the period of the national awakening of Bulgaria, when the lion was considered and widely used as a major national symbol. After the liberational
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 ( tr, 93 Harbi, lit=War of ’93, named for the year 1293 in the Islamic calendar; russian: Русско-турецкая война, Russko-turetskaya voyna, "Russian–Turkish war") was a conflict between th ...
the coat of arms of Zhefarovich was laid in the base of the new state coat of arms, described in the Tarnovo Constitution of 1879 as follows: The type and the details regarding the state coat of arms were not described clearly and were not standardized by a special Act. Because of this, for several decades they took different forms: lesser form; lesser form without supporters, compartment and motto, but covered with mantle from 1879 to 1880; greater form with supporters, bearing two national flags, compartment, motto and mantle from 1881 to 1927; middle form with supporters, compartment and motto from 1915 until 1918/20. Besides these there were different variations within these types. This perplexed situation was resolved by a special parliamentary commission, which sat after 1923. In 1927 it legitimated the middle form of the coat of arms, similar to these used as personal coats of arms by Bulgarian monarchs Ferdinand I and his son
Tsar Boris III Boris III ( bg, Борѝс III ; Boris Treti; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier) , was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until hi ...
(1918–1943), but excluding all dynastic elements and preserving only the pure state symbolism. Following 1944, new times began for the Bulgarian heraldry. In the communist era, the traditional type of coat of arms was replaced by an emblem which preserved the golden lion rampant placed over a non-historically-justifiable oval azure field, but encircled by the ears of wheat, folded by banners, a gear-wheel, a five-pointed red star and some other elements. This composition was derived principally from the pattern of the emblem of the Soviet Union. After the breakdown of the Bulgarian socialist republic in 1989 and several years of fierce partisan disputes, the traditional middle coat of arms from the period 1927–1946 was restored in 1991 with some minor changes. The crown on top of the shield, and thus upon the shielded lion, according to the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, is supposed to be not that of the last
Bulgarian monarchy The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled the country during three periods of Bulgaria's history as an independent country: from the establishment of the First Bulgarian Empire in 681 to the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria in 1018; from the Uprising of Ase ...
(1879–1946), but that of the
Second Bulgarian Empire The Second Bulgarian Empire (; ) was a medieval Bulgarians, Bulgarian state that existed between 1185 and 1396. A successor to the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Tsars Kaloyan of Bulgaria, Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II ...
(1185–1396). This empire was established by the brothers Peter and Asen, after it was freed from Byzantine control in the end of the 12th century, and it was subjugated by the
Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
in the very end of the 14th century. In fact it significantly differs from the crowns known from medieval portraits such as these from the Tetraevangelia of Tsar Ivan Alexander (1331–1371). There is a very popular belief that the three lions represent the three major portions and historical regions of Bulgaria —
Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
, Thrace and
Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...
, which has no connection with the native historical tradition and the principles of heraldry.


Historical coats of arms

File:BG-gerb1295.png, Coat of arms of the King of Bulgaria ca 1295 from the Lord Marshal's Roll. File:Coat of arms ivan shishman.jpg, Shield of a royal warrior from the end of 14th century, anonymous Arabic traveler. File:Coat of Arms of the Emperor of Bulgaria (by Conrad Grünenberg).png, Coat of arms of the Emperor of Bulgaria, Armorial by
Conrad Grünenberg Conrad Grünenberg, also spelled Konrad, Grünemberg, Grünberg (probably born around 1415; died 1494) was a patrician from Constance in southern Germany, known as the author of three books, two armorials and a travelogue: the ''Österreichische ...
, Konstanz Codex, 1483 File:Bulgarian1340.jpg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria from the
Fojnica Armorial Fojnica Armorial ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Fojnički grbovnik, Фојнички грбовник) is a prominent Illyrian armorial which contains South Slavic heraldic symbols, and expresses romantic nationalism and Illyrism rather than historical accuracy ...
, from 17th century. File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (by Vincenco Coronelli).svg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria, from a map by Vincenzo Coronelli, 1692 File:Bulgaria hristofor zhefarovich.jpg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria from '' Stemmatographia'' by Hristofor Zhefarovich, 1746 File:State Achievement of Bulgaria 1878.svg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1879–1880) File:Larger State Achievement of Bulgaria 1908-1946.svg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1881–1927) File:State Achievement of Bulgaria 1908-1946.svg, Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1927–1946) File:Coat of arms of People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946-1948).svg, Coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1946–1947) File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1948).svg, Coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1947-1948) File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1948-1968).svg, Coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1948–1967) File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1968-1971).svg, Coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1967–1971) File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg, Coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (1971–1990) File:Coat of arms of Bulgaria (1990-1991).svg, Coat of arms of the Republic of Bulgaria (1990–1991)Hubert-herald.nl: Bulgaria
- "After the abolition of the People's Republic in 1990 a provisional emblem came into use which was about the same as before but from which the socialist star and the data were removed."


See also

*
Flag of Bulgaria The flag of Bulgaria ( bg, знаме на България, zname na Bǎlgariya) is a tricolour consisting of three equal-sized horizontal bands of (from top to bottom) white, green, and red. The flag was first adopted after the 1877–1878 Russ ...
*
Emblem of the People's Republic of Bulgaria The Emblem of the People's Republic of Bulgaria was first used from 1946 until the end of communist rule in 1990. Following the communist September 9 1944 coup d'etat, the insurgents used royal flags defaced by cutting out the crown and the roy ...
*
Mila Rodino "" ( bg, Мила Родино, ; "Dear Motherland") is the national anthem of Bulgaria. It was composed and written by Tsvetan Radoslavov as he left to fight in the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885. The anthem was adopted in 1964. The text has been c ...
* National Guards Unit of Bulgaria


References

*Oswald, G., ''Lexicon der Heraldik'', Leipzig, 1984, p. 310.


External links


Bulgarian Heraldry and Vexillology Society


{{Coats of arms of Europe National symbols of Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria