Lower Austrian coat of arms

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Shield of the Lower Austrian coat of arms

The Lower Austrian coat of arms , also incorrectly called the lark coat of arms , is the state coat of arms of Lower Austria .

description

The coat of arms of Lower Austria “consists of a blue shield , which has a golden wall crown with three visible battlements and in which there are five golden eagles , two against each other and one turned to the left.” (From: (1) Constitutional law on the Constitution of the federal state of Lower Austria, Lower Austria State Constitution 1979 - Lower Austria LV 1979, from December 7, 1978 Article 7, regional symbols)

The wall crown in the coat of arms is a republican symbol.

history

Larks or eagles

Coat of arms Archduchy Austria below the Enns during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
The five-eagle coat of arms of Austria
in the Babenberger family tree around 1490 attributed to Margrave Adalbert (around 985-1055) - however, the first coat of arms did not appear until about 200 years after Adalbert.

The number and color of the heraldic animals fluctuated initially. The earliest evidence can be found - in a different color than today's gold on blue - on a glass window in the cloister of Klosterneuburg, which is dated around 1330/35.

In earlier times the eagles were mistaken for larks , so that one also speaks of the lark coat of arms . From the 16th century it was interpreted that they could be derived from the standard of the Roman Legio X alaudarum , which was stationed in Vindobona - Latin alauda is the "lark". These interpretations between eagles and larks lasted into the 18th century, and in 1795 the Lower Austrian estates finally renounced the coat of arms.

From 1804, in the Austrian Empire , the five-eagle coat of arms was decreed as the coat of arms of the Archduchy under the Enns , today's Lower Austria , and its form was established. The birds all looked in their right direction, the coat of arms was crowned by the Archduke's hat.

In Klosterneuburg Abbey there is a turquoise blue piece of fabric with a pattern of birds called the margrave's robe from the 13th century, probably of oriental origin, which is said to have been the model of the lark coat of arms. The birds on this piece of fabric are neither eagles nor larks, but parrots crossed in pairs , as well as chickens and other small birds.

Lark coat of arms and shield

The binding shield corresponds to the "new" form of the Austrian coat of arms. While the Bindenschild was originally the Babenberg family coat of arms and then the coat of arms for today's Lower and Upper Austria , the five eagles symbolized the entirety of the Habsburg possessions in the Eastern Alps : the duchies of Austria above and below the Enns , Styria , Carinthia , Krain and the Windische Mark .

In the course of the 14th century, the meaning changed and the binding shield became the coat of arms of the whole of Austria and the coat of arms of the lark became a regional symbol. When exactly and why this change in meaning took place has not been clearly clarified, see Old Austria and New Austria .

Left vs. Right

Up to the state constitution of 1934, Article 9 (1), the heraldic form, "turned to the right", which is usual for blazons, was used to describe the orientation of the fifth eagle. In the currently valid Lower Austrian Provincial Constitution, Article 7 (1), there is, however, the more unusual popular indication, namely “turned to the left”.

literature

  • Floridus Röhrig: The Lower Austrian coat of arms. Its creation u. Meaning . Scientific publication series Lower Austria 57. Lower Austria. Press house (Sankt Pölten 1980). ISBN 3-85326-542-1 -
  • Eagle and red-white-red. Symbols from Lower Austria . Exhibition by the cultural department of the Lower Austrian government. Knowledge Conception Andreas Kusternig. = Catalog of the Lower Austrian Provincial Museum NF 174. Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, Section III / 2, Vienna 1986
  • Peter Diem: The symbols of Austria . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1995

Web links

Commons : Wappen Niederösterreichs  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Lerchenwappen Altösterreichs  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz-Heinz Hye : The Austrian national coat of arms and its history, Innsbruck / Vienna 1995, p. 80
  2. ^ Provincial constitutional law for the state of Lower Austria (State Constitution, 1934).
  3. ^ Lower Austria state constitution 1979.