Coat of arms of Slovakia

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Coat of arms of Slovakia
Coat of arms of Slovakia.svg
Details
Heraldic shield Patriarchal Cross , Dreiberg

The Slovak national coat of arms shows a silver patriarchal cross in red , protruding from a blue three-mountain ( blazon ). The coat of arms can be seen as a picture on the Slovak 1 and 2 euro coins .

The national coat of arms designed by Ladislav Cisarik was first introduced on March 1, 1990 as the coat of arms of the Slovak republic of Czechoslovakia , later confirmed by the law of February 18, 1993 as the coat of arms of independent Slovakia.

Components

Double cross

The Byzantine double cross on Great Moravian bangles

The double cross in the Slovak national coat of arms has its origin in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire . This symbol appeared there many times in the 9th century . While the symbolism of the simple Christian cross is quite clear, there are many explanations for the meaning of the double cross. One of them says that one horizontal arm stands for secular power and the second for ecclesiastical power of the Byzantine emperors.

According to another explanation, the double cross actually consists of two crosses. The first cross symbolizes death and the second the resurrection of Christ. In the Byzantine Empire, however, it was not only a religious symbol, but also a political symbol that was used by Byzantine officials and missionaries.

At the latest through the mission of Cyril and Methodius , this symbol reached the area of ​​today's Slovakia in the 9th century . Although it was widely used in Greater Moravia , it was not yet a state symbol, as there were no state symbols in Europe at that time. But it is possible that it was used as a symbol of the king (similar to the eagle in the Franconian kings). By Zuentibolch (ruler of Lorraine , son of the German king Arnulf of Carinthia and godchild of the Great Moravian ruler Svätopluk ) arrived this icon even after Lorraine and there carries the name of the Cross of Lorraine .

The symbol of the double cross appears again to some extent on the first coins that Stephan , the first king of Hungary, had minted in an unknown location. Before he became king, Stephan was Prince of the Principality of Neutra in what is now Slovakia and lived with his Bavarian wife Gisela in the old Christian center of Neutra . At the beginning of his reign they lived again in Posonium Posony ( Pressburg ), where Stephen's coins were demonstrably minted.

The direct predecessor of today's coat of arms is then the double cross, which was used by Béla, the prince of the Neutra border duchy (1046-1060), who later became the Hungarian king (1061-1063). Béla I was a member of the Hungarian ruling house of the Árpáden and was named after the Prague bishop Adalbert , who at the time baptized King Stephen, the cousin of Béla's father. Béla had its own domestic and foreign policy in his border duchy. The Byzantine Emperor, in a dispute with the Hungarian king, even sent Béla a princely crown to Neutra. Around 1050, Béla had its own coins minted in Neutra, the capital of his border duchy, which deliberately differed from those of the Hungarian king and bore the symbol of the double cross.

Only a hundred years later, around 1189, was the double cross in the course of a crusade by the Hungarian King Béla III. used. This time already as a coat of arms, since coats of arms came into use from this time. He chose the symbol because it was both Christian and the oldest symbol of his kingdom. However, Béla's successors no longer used the double cross associated with the northern Neutra border duchy, which was dissolved in 1108, as their coat of arms, but the stripe symbol associated with the newer border duchy in Croatia and Dalmatia formed at the end of the 11th century (see, for example, today's Hungarian Coat of arms ).

King Béla IV returned to the symbol of the double cross for unknown reasons. In its time it was also - somewhat modified - the symbol of the Pressburg / Posonium County . When the Kingdom of Hungary was temporarily split into two parts in 1262, the double cross was used as a symbol for the northwestern part, the core of which was in what is now Slovakia, and the stripes for the other part of the kingdom.

After the Mongol invasion of 1241/42, many newly founded cities in the kingdom received the right to use the royal double cross as a coat of arms. The largest and most of the cities of the kingdom were located in the part of the kingdom that was shaped by German settlers and mining and therefore economically prosperous - in today's Slovakia. Probably also because of this use in the city arms, the double cross became a symbol of the northernmost part of the kingdom from the 15th century , the part whose name has also been documented as Slovakia since the 15th century and that in the 18th and 19th centuries as Upper Hungary was designated.

Dreiberg

The Dreiberg symbolizes the three mountains of the northern Kingdom of Hungary, namely the Tatra , Fatra and Mátra . This interpretation is demonstrably the oldest and most common. It probably dates back to the 15th century , but can only be proven for the 16th century .

The three mountains below the double cross were used for the first time by King Ladislaus V of Hungary (1301–1305), from the Přemyslid family . They symbolize the three mountains of Slovakia.

symbolism

Since the 16th century at the latest , the Slovaks regarded the double cross with the three mountains as a symbol of their nation . This was particularly evident during the revolution of 1848/1849, when the Slovaks fought on the side of Vienna against the Hungarians (see Slovak Uprising ). In August 1848, the Slovak National Council was founded in Vienna for this purpose , on whose seal the current state coat of arms of Slovakia appeared for the first time officially as the national symbol of the Slovak people (instead of just as a symbol of Upper Hungary). From then on, the symbol was used widely.

The color of the three mountains below the double cross was changed to blue in 1848, so that the three "Slavic" colors red-white-blue result.

In 1918 (officially 1920) the Slovak national coat of arms became part of the national coat of arms of Czechoslovakia . From 1939 to 1945 it was the state symbol of the Slovak state . In 1945 it became part of the coat of arms of Czechoslovakia again . 1960–1990 the symbol was officially banned as the "symbol of the fascist Slovak state" (1939–1945) and was replaced in the state coat of arms of Czechoslovakia by the artificially created symbol of the Kriváň mountain with three flames. The three flames were supposed to symbolize the Slovak national uprising of 1944.

After the Velvet Revolution in 1990, the current state coat of arms was declared the coat of arms of the Slovak Republic within Czechoslovakia, and since January 1, 1993 it has been the national coat of arms of Slovakia .

Part of other symbols

For the patriarchal cross see above .

The double cross from today's Slovak national coat of arms was in the 13th century by King Béla III. subsequently made the symbol of St. Ladislaus (King Ladislaus I ), and in the 14th century it became part of the coat of arms of the Jagiellonian family , as King Władysław II Jagiełło adopted the (alleged) coat of arms of Saint Ladislaus when he was baptized in 1386. It was also included in the Lithuanian coat of arms via the Jagiellonian Islands .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karl-Heinz Hesmer: Flags and coats of arms of the world. Chronik Verlag, Gütersloh u. a. 2008, ISBN 978-3-577-14537-4 , p. 236.

See also