Every city in Russia and even small towns and villages have their own distinctive sign - the coat of arms, which is a kind of painted "passport" of the territory. The word "rowing" itself has Polish roots, and in translation means "heritage". Indeed, coats of arms are passed down from generation to generation and without the need to make changes to them.
The coat of arms eloquently tells the history of the city, reveals its past. However, some coats of arms are puzzling: why exactly THIS is depicted on it? We present to your attention the most unusual and interesting, in our opinion, coats of arms of Russian cities.

Chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk is the cast-iron capital of our country. It would seem, where does the camel? But it is this two-humped handsome man that is depicted on the coat of arms of the city, and this has its own rationale. Many centuries ago, the route of the “ships of the desert” passed through Chelyabinsk, along which goods from Asia were delivered to the capital and cities of the European part of our country.

Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk region

Everyone is familiar with Malevich's Black Square. But not everyone saw the Black Triangle depicted on the coat of arms of Magnitogorsk. The description of the coat of arms is very laconic: "There is a black pyramid in a silver field." The image can be interpreted in different ways: it is both a tent in which the first builders of the city lived, and Magnitnaya Mountain, and a reminder that Magnitogorsk is the center of ferrous metallurgy.

Serpukhov, Moscow region

But in Serpukhov, everything is much more joyful and cheerful: on the coat of arms of the city, a handsome peacock has spread its tail. In the 18th century, Empress Catherine ordered “all cities to have a coat of arms”, and a small questionnaire was sent to each, where it was necessary to indicate the exclusive and unique feature of the settlement. From Serpukhov came the answer: "peacocks will be born in the monastery alone ...". As it turned out later, a pair of these outlandish birds, from which the entire Serpukhov peacock family descended, was presented to the Vysotsky Monastery as an offering. However, this minor note was the reason for the appearance of a tailed bird on the main symbol of the city.

Shuya, Ivanovo region

The first acquaintance with the coat of arms of Shuya can be confusing. What is it: a brick in honor of the builders or a parallelepiped that marks the geometry and correct forms? Everything is much simpler - this is a bar of ordinary soap, "meaning the glorious soap factories of the city." But the current description of the coat of arms is much more prosaic: the soap bar turned out to be just “a golden bar with three edges.”

Irkutsk

Many coats of arms contain animals, and all of them are easily recognizable. But what kind of animal on the coat of arms of Irkutsk is difficult to figure out: an African-American tiger with webbed paws and a beaver tail, holding a dead sable firmly in its teeth? Initially, a tiger was indeed depicted on the coat of arms, but it was rarely seen in those places, and the very name “tiger” did not take root among Siberians, and a strong striped cat was called “babr”. Over time, officials who did not shine with knowledge in the field of exoticism confused the babr with the beaver and “painted on” the hind legs and tail like a beaver to the Irkutsk tiger, and repainted the striped skin black.

Snezhnogorsk, Murmansk region

Perhaps the most "cute" can be called the coat of arms of Snezhnogorsk. It features a somewhat cartoonish seal as a symbol of the local shipyard of the same name. On the other hand, this coat of arms is a real classic in heraldry: snowflakes speak directly about the name of the city, thus making the coat of arms “semi-vowel”.

Epifan village, Tula region

The coat of arms of Epifani by modern standards can be compared with forbidden propaganda: hemp is depicted on it. Based on an old description, on the coat of arms "you can see a field from which three hemp epics grow like a shield." Naturally, our ancestors did not suspect the intoxicating properties of these "epics", and hemp was cultivated exclusively for the manufacture of ropes and oil.

Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Territory

A bear breaking an atom... Sounds strong and even menacing. However, such a bear is painted on the coat of arms of Zheleznogorsk. According to the description, it is a symbol of the unity of the forces of nature and human thought.

For the creators of coats of arms, the name of the city often serves as a “hint”. It is not difficult to guess what the coats of arms of the two cities of the Penza region of Upper Lomov and Nizhny Lomov look like.

And now try to imagine for yourself what you would draw on the coat of arms of the city of Dukhovshchina, which is located in the Smolensk region? Naturally, "in an open field, a rose bush with a pleasant spirit"!

The coat of arms is business card any city, its face and, to put it modern language, barcode. Some of them are real works of art, while others sometimes look funny and unusual, but this does not detract from their significance for residents.

Which of our settlements was “sent to the soap”, and which one “received a pumpkin”?

With the approval of the leadership of the Chelyabinsk region, a competition was organized there for best idea to commemorate the day a meteorite exploded over the region. Among the most "creative" proposals of citizens is the change of the coat of arms of the region, on which it is proposed to place a meteorite next to a camel.

Coat of arms of Chelyabinsk.

"MK" studied the strangest coats of arms of Russian regions and cities. What we just didn’t find there: from a Negroid tiger to a sacrifice, an opium poppy and fragments of cellulose.

Let's start with Chelyabinsk people. Now the main element of the coat of arms of this region and its capital is a camel. The image of the "ship of the desert" got on the heraldic shield as early as the time of Empress Catherine the Great. The description of the coat of arms of Chelyabinsk, approved on July 6, 1782, says: “In ... the lower part of the shield is a loaded camel, as a sign that they are brought to this city with enough goods.” The authors had in mind that a caravan route passed through this Ural city from time immemorial, along which goods from Mongolia and China were delivered to the European part of the country. So with historical point From the point of view, the existence of the Chelyabinsk "armored" camel is quite logical and justified.

What can not be said about the "hero of animal origin", who settled on the coat of arms of the city of Serpukhov. The peacock has been the heraldic symbol of this regional center near Moscow for more than 200 years! (I just want to send the slogan to the people: “Moscow region is the birthplace of peacocks!”)

Coat of arms of Serpukhov

But how did the exotic bird of paradise "make a nest" in our northern regions, on the banks of the Oka? It turns out that at the end of the 18th century, by order of the already mentioned Empress Catherine, a campaign began in the country for the mass assignment of coats of arms to cities, the then chief king of arms of the empire, Count Francisco Santi, sent out questionnaires to all corners of the country, wanting to find out which each city and town had an "exclusive ”, - in order to display it on the coat of arms. In the answer received from Serpukhov, Santi’s attention was drawn to the phrase: “in a monastery alone peacocks will be born ...” (meaning the Vysotsky monastery, whose monks back in 1691, okolnichiy Mikhail Kolupaev, as a contribution, gave a peacock and a peacock, from which and the Serpukhov peacock clan began.) Such an insignificant remark in the questionnaire became the reason for the "accession" of the peacock on the coat of arms of Serpukhov.

However, a peacock - it at least "sounds proud." Some other settlements got birds much less "top". For example, the city of Yelabuga in Tatarstan, now known for its automobile production, was awarded a coat of arms 232 years ago, on which "... in the lower part of the shield in a silver field, a woodpecker sitting on a stump, hammering it, because there are many of this kind of birds."

But Irkutsk acquired an animal on its coat of arms, which in reality does not exist at all. This unique specimen is a “Negroid” tiger, equipped with webbed feet and a flat, “fleshy” tail, like a beaver.

Coat of arms of Irkutsk

Where did this mutant come from? – We read the description of the coat of arms, approved in the fall of 1790: “In the silver field of the shield is a running tiger, and in his mouth he has a sable.” Well, there is nothing supernatural here, because in those ancient times in the east of the vast Siberian province, tigers were not rare. However, this name of the animal itself somehow did not take root among the Siberians, and instead of it, the locals called the mighty tabby cat the babr. Further development events are easy to imagine: officials, far from the Siberian exotic, easily confused the local babr with the widespread “water animal” - the beaver. So it turned out later, according to official documents, that the inhabitants of Irkutsk have a running beaver (!) on their coat of arms, which holds a sable in its mouth. In order to somehow fit the “picture” under this awkward description, the tiger from the Irkutsk coat of arms was painted with “beaver” hind legs and tail, the striped color of the skin was removed, replacing it with a plain black one.

I found among other coats of arms of Russia, equipped with images of animals, one very "sadistic". On the emblem of the Kargopolsky district of the Arkhangelsk region, according to the description approved in June 2004, “in an azure field is a silver ram with golden horns, lying on golden brands; everything is engulfed in a scarlet (red) flame. That is, the process of roasting a ram is actually depicted - uncut, right in all its naturalness. The explanation for the appearance of such a “horror” on the coat of arms is that the ritual of sacrificing a ram has been widespread in the Russian North since pagan times. In some villages of the Kargopol district, even before the revolution, there was a “Lamb Sunday”, during which the peasants slaughtered a ram and sacrificed it to Elijah the Prophet.

Among the hundreds of Russian city coats of arms there are those, the image on which at the present time can be interpreted as forbidden propaganda.

On the coat of arms of the village (formerly the city) of Epifan in the Tula region, you can see the drug - hemp.

Coat of arms of the village of Epifan

According to the ancient description of the coat of arms, it is a "shield, a silver field with black earth below, from which three hemp epics grow, showing that the surroundings of this city, among other works, abound in hemp." It is clear that our great-grandfathers, drawing hemp on the coat of arms of Epifani, oh narcotic properties this "weed" was not even thought of. In those days, this plant was actively cultivated in order to obtain hemp from it for weaving strong ropes and healthy hemp oil.

The same “criminal” hemp is depicted on the coat of arms of some other territories where the cultivation of hemp for household needs flourished in the past - the Kimovsky district of the Tula region and the city of Novozybkov in the Bryansk region (in this latter case, hemp stalks are shown rolled into a green sheaf, and in In the 1980s, when hemp was already on the “black lists”, instead of a sheaf, they began to draw a more “harmless” heraldic element - a cannon).

Another narcotic “object” also made its way into the heraldry. Here is the description of the coat of arms of the city of Derbent approved in March 1843 on the territory of present-day Dagestan: “... In the lower half of the shield, divided into two parts and having a silver field, on the right side there is an old fortress wall with a gate ...; on the left side are intertwined roots of a madder plant and several stalks of poppy tied with a golden rope, as a sign that the inhabitants are very successful in processing madder and cultivating poppy to make opium (shiryak) from it.

Coat of arms of Derbent

Poppy-opiate is also depicted on the coat of arms of the city of Karachev (present-day Bryansk region), which was approved in 1781. sow and sell it.”

Some coats of arms are "equipped" with rather unexpected elements. For example, in the old (1781) description of the coat of arms of the city of Shuya (Ivanovo region) it is written: "... In the lower part of the shield there is a bar of soap in the red field, meaning the glorious soap factories located in the city." True, in the modern version of the coat of arms, approved in 2004, this bar of soap turned into a kind of abstract "gold bar with three visible faces - front, facing straight, top and left."

Coat of arms of the city of Shuya

By the will of the capital's kings of arms, the city of Sengiley (the current Ulyanovsk region) received a pumpkin. In the literal sense of the word: "... In the lower part of the shield there are two large pumpkins with branches in a silver field, meaning the abundance of this kind of fruit."

The names of old Russian settlements themselves sometimes became a “hint” to the creators of coats of arms. Here, for example, are two cities in the current Penza region - Upper and Lower Lomov. Here, there is no need to strain your imagination too much - in both cases, in the coats of arms of the city, in their lower part there are "five iron crowbars laid with a star, with sharp ends upwards, meaning the name of this city."

Come on, the smartest readers, guess how to illustrate the name Dukhovshchina on the coat of arms? For those who have not coped with such a task, we quote a fragment from the description of the coat of arms, approved in 1780 for this city in the territory of the present Smolensk region: “... At the bottom of the shield in a white field, a rose bush producing a pleasant spirit.”

Of course, the work of the inventors of the coats of arms "from the time of the construction of developed socialism in the country" has gone away from all this archaism. In the USSR, cities and towns received "propaganda" coats of arms - in the spirit of propaganda posters. They depicted power plants, factories, turbines, icebreakers, steel ladles, gears (well, the heraldic element was very popular!), pipes, ears, hammers ... On the coat of arms of the city of Bratsk, approved in 1980, where they built the largest pulp paper mill, among other things, even “stylized fragments of chemical formula cellulose."

Walked here, walked, and found.

After one of the dead old people, this set of icons was thrown away. Directly in its entirety, in the cover. The cardboard cover, of course, was somewhat damaged, even the trace of someone's boot is visible.
But the badges themselves are intact, even the hairpins are not bent.

If someone does not know (or has forgotten), the "Golden Ring" is a tourist route developed during the Soviet era through cities with traditional Russian architecture, mainly from the 15th-18th centuries (although in some places there are older buildings and younger - if they are architecturally interesting). The architecture is represented by churches, monasteries, less often - boyar or merchant chambers, ancient fortifications (kremlin) in varying degrees of preservation. This route was called "Ring" because the cities offered for visiting were located approximately ring-shaped around Moscow, in modern Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Tver, Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions. Classically, eight cities belong to the "Golden Ring": Sergiev Posad (from 1930 to 991 - Zagorsk), Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov the Great, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Suzdal, Vladimir. Moscow is usually not included in the list of cities of the "Golden Ring", being, as it were, the center of this ring.

The term itself appeared thanks to the art historian and literary critic Yuri Alexandrovich Bychkov, who in 1967 published in the newspaper " Soviet culture"a series of articles under the general heading "The Golden Ring of Russia".

However, it quickly became clear that it was difficult to limit ourselves to only the eight cities named, since ancient cities with interesting history and much more architecture. This is how the "extended" list of cities of the "Golden Ring" appeared, which is often discussed. The expanded list includes the following cities and towns in Central Russia: Abramtsevo, Alexandrov, Bogolyubovo, Gorokhovets, Gus-Khrustalny, Dmitrov, Kalyazin, Kashin, Kideksha, Kineshma, Krasnoe-on-Volga, Murom, Myshkin, Nerekhta, Palekh, Ples, Pokrov , Rybinsk, Tutaev, Uglich, Shuya, Yuryev-Polsky, Yuryevets. This list varies in different sources, it includes either a larger or smaller number of cities, and sometimes they are arranged according to the degree of significance or interest from the point of view of history and tourism.

Even later, the concept of the "Big Golden Ring" appeared, which already included more than a hundred different cities and towns in Central Russia. Of course, it was impossible to fit all the cities of the "Big Golden Ring" into one route, and accordingly, a whole network of routes was developed, different in travel time and saturation. The trips were usually by bus, of varying duration - from three to four to ten days.

With the collapse of the USSR, active tourist activity on the routes of the Golden Ring almost ended, architectural monuments somewhere fell into decay and even collapsed without care, and somewhere they were "restored" quickly and cheaper. However, travel agencies still offer tours to the cities of the "Golden Ring" - both according to the classic list of eight main cities, and in individual regions.

And now it's time to go directly to the found set of icons.

This is what the full cover looks like:

1. Moscow. The image of the coat of arms of Moscow is curious. This is not an image of the coat of arms of Moscow in the Soviet era, but also not an image of pre-revolutionary variants of the coat of arms. Rather, it is a kind of free fantasy on the theme of the "spear" of ancient Russian coins or seals. Let me remind you that the city of Moscow was usually not included in the classic list of cities of the Golden Ring, being the "center" of this ring and the beginning of tourist routes:

2. Zagorsk (before 1930 and after 1991 - Sergiev Posad). A city from the main list of the "Golden Ring". The emblem is depicted quite accurately, with a red field in the corner of the shield, it should have included the coat of arms of Moscow, as a sign of belonging to the Moscow province. However, the coat of arms of Moscow is indistinguishable on a small badge:

3. Kineshma. A city usually only included in the "Great Golden Circle" list. Nowadays it refers to Ivanovo region, however, before the revolution it belonged to the Kostroma province, which was reflected in the coat of arms granted to the city in 1779: in the upper part of the shield there is a golden ship in a blue field (the coat of arms of Kostroma), and in the lower part there are two bundles of linen, as a symbol of the linen manufactory, available in the city:

4. Vyazniki. It was also usually included in the "Big Golden Ring". Now included in Vladimir region, before the revolution - in the Vladimir province. In the upper part of the emblem there is a golden lion in a red field, in the lower part there is a tree (elm) on a yellow field:

5. Murom. He was included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". City of Vladimir region (province). In the coat of arms in the upper part there is again the Vladimir lion in a red field, in the lower part of the shield there are three rolls in the azure field, "for which this city is superbly famous":

6. Plyos. He was included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". Now the city of the Ivanovo region, before the revolution - the Kostroma province. In the upper part of the shield there is a Kostroma golden ship in a blue field, in the lower part there is a river with a pool in a silver (light gray) field, which gave the city its name:

7. Rybinsk. He was included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". City Yaroslavl region(provinces). In the upper part of the shield there is a golden bear with an ax in a red field (the coat of arms of Yaroslavl), in the lower part there is a river with a pier and two sterlets in the river on a red field. On the icon of the pier, something is faintly guessed:

8. Kostroma. A city from the main list of the "Golden Ring". The city is the center of the Kostroma region, before the revolution - the Kostroma province. The coat of arms of Kostroma was granted by Catherine II in 1767. On the coat of arms in an azure field, a golden galley sailing along blue waves with silver crests - for the Empress arrived in Kostroma on the Tver galley:

9. Shuya. The city now belongs to the Ivanovo region, previously belonged to the Vladimir province. Included in the "extended" list of cities "Golden Ring". The coat of arms is a shield divided in two, in the upper part on a red field a golden lion with a crown holding a cross (Vladimir's coat of arms) in its paws, in the lower part a bar of soap in a red field, in memory of the fact that soap making was the most ancient craft of the city:

10. Yaroslavl. A city from the main list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms of the city is not quite right. There should be a black bear on a silver (gray) field, holding a golden ax (or pierced) in its left paw. However, the bear is also depicted in gold:

11. Gorokhovets. City of Vladimir region (province). Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms is a shield divided in two, in the upper part on a red field there is a golden lion with a crown holding a cross (the arms of Vladimir) in its paws, in the lower part there are pea sprouts on poles in a golden field:

12. Carpets. The city was usually included in the "Big Golden Ring", the Vladimir region (and province). The coat of arms in the upper part contains the coat of arms of Vladimir, in the lower part there are two silver hares with red eyes and tongues in a green field. It is believed that the governor of Catherine II, Count Vorontsov, greatly appreciated hare hunting in those parts:

13. Pereslavl-Zalessky. Included in the main list of the "Golden Ring". The city of the Yaroslavl region, earlier - the Vladimir province. The coat of arms in the upper part of the shield contains the coat of arms of the provincial city of Vladimir, in the lower part - two golden herrings in a black field, as a sign that herring smoking was one of the notable urban crafts:

14. Vladimir. The city is included in the main list of the "Golden Ring". One of the most interesting and rich in monuments cities of the Ring. On the coat of arms of Vladimir there is a golden lion in a red field, in a crown and with a cross in its paws. The lion was a generic sign of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes:

15. Alexandrov. The city of the Vladimir region, earlier - the province. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms consists of the coat of arms of the city of Vladimir in the upper part of the shield, and in the lower part there is a metalwork vise and two anvils in the red field, "as a sign that very fair metalwork is carried out in this city":

16. Uglich. The city of the Yaroslavl region (formerly - the province), is included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms of the city of Uglich reflects the tragedy that took place here: under unclear circumstances, the young prince Dmitry, the son of Ivan the Terrible, died (was stabbed to death). In the murder of the prince, the Uglichians considered two clerks guilty, and killed them. The coat of arms contains in the red field the image of the right-believing Tsarevich Dmitry with a knife (murder weapon) in his right hand:

17. Tutaev. He was included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". Until 1918, it was called Romanov-Borisoglebsk and was formed by the merger in 1822 of two independent cities - Romanov and Borisoglebsk, located on both banks of the Volga. The coat of arms of the united city was also obtained by combining their original coats of arms: "In the golden shield beveled on the right at the top - an azure wavy band, accompanied by narrow black bands on the sides; below - a wreath of thirteen red roses with green stems and leaves, tied with an azure ribbon and having inside in silver field of a black bear holding a golden ax on his shoulder with his left paw. But the emblem of only one city of Romanov is represented on the badge:

18. Yuriev-Polsky. City of Vladimir region and province. He was included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". Its modern name is somewhat misleading, since the city has nothing to do with Poland, but it has something to do with the "field" - the second part of the name was added in order to distinguish it from other cities with the name Yuryev. Its coat of arms in the upper part contains the coat of arms of Vladimir, in the lower part - two boxes filled with cherries, "with which this city abounds." However, the boxes on the icon are empty:

19. Galich. The city of the Kostroma region and province, is included in the list of the "Big Golden Ring". The coat of arms of Galich consists of unequal parts of the shield. In the upper, most part on the red field are military trophies - armor, ten banners, an ax and the Cross of John the Baptist crowning them. In the lower, smaller part, on a silver field, two drums tilted apart, two timpani and a pair of drumsticks are placed:

20. Suzdal. The city of the Vladimir region and province, is included in the main list of the "Golden Ring". Along with Vladimir, one of the most interesting cities in the Ring. The coat of arms of Suzdal is a shield divided into two fields, azure above, red below, against their background a falcon in a princely crown:

21. Rostov the Great. The city of the Yaroslavl region and province, is included in the main list of the "Golden Ring". The third of the most interesting cities of the Ring. On the coat of arms of Rostov there is a silver deer in a red field, golden horns, mane and hooves:

And in the end - the general impression of the set.

The idea is good, but the execution...
The cover is made of low-quality cardboard, like the one from which shoe boxes were made, printing can only be called such with a very big stretch.
Causes some bewilderment and the composition of the emblems in the set. There is no coat of arms of the city of Ivanovo - the eighth city from the main list of the "Golden Ring", the coats of arms of the cities of the "extended" list and the list of the "Big Golden Ring" are haphazardly included.
The badges themselves are small, about 2 cm in diameter, because of this, the images of the coats of arms are very conditional and simplified, some of the coats of arms are given with errors.
The very design of the badges is rather rough, which is partly due to the material - aluminum, but often the simplification cannot be explained only by this. The enamels and the lacquer that covers the badges have different shades, which makes it difficult to perceive the set as a whole.
Mostly used are images of coats of arms adopted at the end of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II, since in Soviet times urban heraldry how the system was missing.

I will make assumptions that the sets were generally completed according to the principle "what is available - from that we recruit." Perhaps, in different sets, the specific composition of the icons was also slightly different. They were sold, apparently, at the points of the Golden Ring tourist route as souvenirs.

The culmination of city emblems in the Western European tradition dates back to the 15th century. In Russia, one can talk about city emblems as symbols of self-government only from the 18th century. According to well-known experts in the field of heraldry, in Russia in the pre-Mongol period there were emblems - the "ancestors" of city emblems.

The term "city coat of arms" itself first appeared in the royal decree of 1692 in connection with the coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl.

coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl from the Big State Book - "Titular" 1672:

The coat of arms depicted a bear with a protazan. It is believed that this image is associated with the ancient cult of the bear, characteristic of the Upper Volga region as early as the 9th-10th centuries. Perhaps the image corresponds to the legend about the founding of Yaroslavl at the place where Yaroslav the Wise killed a bear with an axe.

It has already been mentioned that the appearance of Russian city coats of arms refers to the specific period and their origin is associated with signs of property and princely dignity of the owners of the appanages. Illustrating this position typical circuit is:

Sign of the property of the prince ---- Sign of the land ---- Sign of the main city of this land ---- Signs of princely families from this land.

Coat of arms of the city of Vladimir.

This oldest city coat of arms, not only in Russia, but also in Europe, arose in the 12th century.

In the XII century, in the pre-Mongolian period, the city of Vladimir became the first unifying center of specific Russia - the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. The inevitability of the appearance of the capital's coat of arms is due to the rise of this city. Grand Dukes of Vladimir Andrey Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yurievich Big Nest needed a symbol on a larger scale than the personal heraldic sign of the Rurikovichs of the previous (Kyiv) period - a trident and a bident. The new symbol is the lion. According to a number of researchers, the lion was the emblem of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky.

A lion - personified power, courage, strength, mercy, generosity.

In Christian symbolism, the lion is a symbol of the Evangelist Luke and, according to biblical tradition, the tribe of Judah; a symbol of the royal God-given power of the great princes; a symbol of defeated evil; a symbol of the claim to royal power and a symbol of evidence of royal power.

This symbolism coincided both with the policy pursued by the Grand Dukes of Vladimir, which had a clear ideological design, and with their self-esteem.

Ancient coat of arms the city of Vladimir, the description of which is given in the "Titular" of 1672, represented a lion walking on its hind legs in profile, an ancient crown on its head, and a long 4-pointed cross in its front paws. From the point of view of the rules of heraldry, the ancient Vladimir lion had an incorrect heraldic posture, since it did not “attack” the enemy, but “ran away” from him. This heraldic inaccuracy was eliminated in the 18th century.

The lion on the coat of arms of the city of Vladimir was not a single symbol. The cultural environment for him was the white-stone carving of the cathedrals of the XII-XIII centuries of Vladimir, Suzdal, Yuryev Polsky.

At present, some specialists in the field of heraldry give the coat of arms of Vladimir the status of the first state emblem in the history of the fatherland.

Coat of arms of the city of Vladimir from the Big State Book - "Titular" of 1672:

Coat of arms of the city of Moscow.

All versions of the history of the coat of arms of the city of Moscow testify to a long period of its formation.

Initially, it was an image of a white horse on a scarlet field. The horse will remain a permanent figure of the Moscow coat of arms.

Horse- a cult creature with many sacred functions, including: the courage of a lion, the vigilance of an eagle, the speed of a deer, the dexterity of a fox. The horse is sensitive, devoted, noble.

It is known that the Moscow ideological tradition made this city the successor of Kyiv through Vladimir. Then the emblematic figure of Moscow would be logically the Vladimir lion. He could be the main figure or somehow present on the coat of arms. Specialists in the field of heraldry explain the absence of a lion for two reasons. Firstly, the Moscow princes under the conditions of the Mongol-Tatar yoke were more modest than the pre-Mongolian Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yuryevich Big Nest. Secondly, Vladimir, with the symbol of a lion, nevertheless ended up under the Tatars, with whom Moscow had learned to wage a successful struggle since the end of the 14th century.

Then appeared in the coat of arms of the city of Moscow rider on a horse. The rider saddled, subordinated to his will not just an animal, but a cult creature - a horse. Hence the status of the rider is very high. After the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, the rider was personified with Saint George on horseback, striking a snake. Later - with an equestrian warrior with a sword, then - with a horseman with a spear (rider), then - with an equestrian warrior, striking a winged serpent or dragon with a spear, as a symbol of independence from the Tatars. At the same time, “portrait” princely features gradually began to appear in the silhouette of an equestrian warrior. During the reign of Prince Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462), who had the title "Sovereign of All Russia", the horseman turns into a prince. Under Ivan III (1462-1505), a rider in armor, in a developing cloak, pricks with a spear a snake stretched out under the hooves of his horse. This is the coat of arms of the sovereigns of Moscow, the sovereigns of all Russia. It is very close to the state. Specialists in heraldry believe that the Moscow princes were looking for a more state symbol than a dynastic one. During the reign of Ivan III, after his marriage to Sophia Palaiologos in 1472, in 1497, a second, in addition to the rider, image of a crowned double-headed eagle appeared on the state double-sided seal. Ivan III, at the same time, already had the title “By God's grace, the ruler of All Russia, Grand Duke. And the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Ugric, Vyatka, Perm, Bulgarian. So the Moscow coat of arms came even closer to the state one. In the 16th-17th centuries, there was a clear interpretation of the rider as a grand duke, king or heir.

Animals in coats of arms Russian cities

In the silver field on the azure extremity, burdened with two pairs of silver fish, one above the other, supported on the sides by two black bears, a golden armchair with a red pillow and a back crowned with a golden candlestick with three silver candles burning with scarlet flames; a crossed golden scepter crowned with a cross and a cross are placed on the pillow.

Approved on August 16, 1781. Description of the coat of arms: In the upper part of the shield is the coat of arms of Vladimir. At the bottom - two hares sitting in a green field, which animals are abundant in the vicinity of this city.

The coat of arms depicts two golden herrings in a black field "as a sign that this smoked fish makes a bargain."

The Rybinsk coat of arms is a red shield divided into two parts. At the top - a bear with an ax coming out from behind the river, showing that the city belongs to the Yaroslavl region. In the lower part there are two sterlet, indicating the abundance of water and fish. From the water to the hill there are two stairs, indicating the pier.

The peacock has been the heraldic symbol of this regional center near Moscow for more than 200 years! At the end of the 18th century, by order of the already mentioned Empress Catherine, a campaign began in the country for the mass assignment of coats of arms to cities, the then chief king of arms of the empire, Count Francisco Santi, sent out questionnaires to all corners of the country, wanting to find out what each city and town had a special one - to then display on the coat of arms. In the answer received from Serpukhov, Santi’s attention was drawn to the phrase: “in a monastery alone peacocks will be born ...” (meaning the Vysotsky monastery, whose monks back in 1691, okolnichiy Mikhail Kolupaev, as a contribution, gave a peacock and a peacock, from which and the Serpukhov peacock clan began.) Such an insignificant remark in the questionnaire became the reason for the "accession" of the peacock on the coat of arms of Serpukhov.

Approved on September 21, 1781 Description of the coat of arms: In the upper part of the shield - the coat of arms of Voronezh. At the bottom is a small animal, called a ferret, in a golden field, of which there are a lot in the vicinity of this city.

The silver shield is crossed diagonally by a blue-blue baldric ribbon, on which three flying partridges are depicted. The coat of arms was approved in February 1992 by the City Council of People's Deputies.

Approved on January 8, 1780. Description of the coat of arms: In the first part, the coat of arms of Kursk. In the second part of the shield, an animal called a ferret is in a golden field, for the reason that there are many of them in the vicinity of this city.

LGOV, in the Kursk region, regional subordination, district center, 85 km west of Kursk. Located in the southern part of the Central Russian Upland, along the banks of the river. Seim (a tributary of the Desna).

A black fox in a golden field is a sign that the inhabitants of that city are practicing catching those animals. Approved October 2, 1781

Black sable and marten

Gold shield holders - a bear and a sable with squirrel fur collars, with a silver druse of five crystals. The bear is a symbol of the European part of Russia, the sable is the Asian one. Under the Demidovs, sable was a brand of Ural metal.

In a silver field on green ground, a black stump with a branch with green leaves extending to the right, on a stump - a scarlet woodpecker sitting with wings upraised and turned to the left, having golden eyes and a beak

Coat of arms of Cheboksary. At the top of the shield is the coat of arms of Kazan. At the bottom - five wild ducks flying in a golden field, as a sign that in the vicinity of this city these are very abundant. Highest approved 10/18/1781

Marten. Often marten furs were used by the population to exchange with the southern tribes for iron and other necessary things.

Description (1785) The coat of arms of Tobolsk is in the upper part of the shield. At the bottom, in a golden field, is a bunch of different animal skins, on which lies the Mercury rod: as a sign that in this city there is a main fur trade, to which merchants come from all places.

The silver bear is a symbol of natural wealth, the boundless lands surrounding the city, containing many "metals, salt mines, multi-colored marbles and other stones" and "full of forests", in which "there are a considerable number and various kinds of wild animals"