Sofia coat of arms

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Coat of arms of the city of Sofia

The coat of arms of Sofia ( Bulgarian Герб на София Gerb na Sofia ) is the city coat of arms of the Bulgarian capital Sofia . It is also used as a symbol of the Sofia Municipality ( община София ).

description

The city coat of arms of Sofia has the shape of a heraldic shield , which is divided into four fields ( crossing ) and carries a heart shield . A three-tower wall crown rests on the shield .

In the upper right field ( heraldic right is left from the viewer) of the shield, the empress Julia Domna is depicted with a wall crown - on a red background, in the upper left field the main facade of the Church of Sweta Sofia - on a yellow background, in the lower right field the Vitosha Mountains - green mountain against a blue sky - and in the lower left field a statue of Apollo under a golden canopy - on a blue background.

In the center of the shield, a leaping lion is depicted in a fifth field (the heart shield - in heraldry it is called the shield) .

The motto “Grows, but does not age” (Bulgarian “Расте, но не старее”, “Raste, no ne staree” ) is written in Cyrillic on a ribbon under the coat of arms . According to other translation versions, the motto is: "It grows, but it does not age" or "It grows but does not age".

There is a branch of laurel on either side of the shield . The shield has a semicircular side incision on both sides, halfway up. At the bottom it has a small pointed extension and is generally similar to the modern French shield shape. The top of the shield is concave.

symbolism

The five stylized images ( common figure ) in the Sofia city coat of arms synthesize the essentials about Sofia. The two images above refer to the name of the city.

The portrait of Empress Julia Domna , the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus , refers to the ancient Roman name of Sofia: Ulpia Serdica . Your image was taken from the image on an ancient coin minted in ancient Serdica around AD 202. Julia Domna was depicted on this coin as the protective goddess of the city. In the 4th century BC Serdica was the center of the Roman province of Thracia .

Actually, the portrait of the Empress Julia Domna is not shown, as the creators of the coat of arms thought at the time, but the bust of the patron goddess of the city of Serdica. The obverse of this coin (the obverse ), which comes from Serdica, shows the image of the wife of Emperor Septimius Severus - the Empress Julia Domna, while the reverse (the reverse ) shows the profile of the Roman goddess Fortuna , the goddess of lucky fate, of happiness and prosperity. The Roman goddess Fortuna corresponds to the Greek goddess Tyche .

Fortuna was revered as the protector of the respective city or village. She was depicted with a headscarf and a crown in the form of fortress walls with towers, and she was often depicted as a blind woman. This portrait of the goddess Fortuna was mistaken for the portrait of Empress Julia Domna by the three artists and so incorporated into the coat of arms.

The image of the Sweta Sofia church refers to the name giver for the current name of the city. The new name of Sofia was first mentioned in the writing of a merchant from Dubrovnik ( Republic of Ragusa ) in 1376. Historians in 1900 did not know the history of the Sveta Sofia Church very well. The three artists said that their picture represents the main facade of the church, in memory of the time of Tsar Ivan Assen II.

However, the view of the church used in the coat of arms is strange. Shown is the east side - the altar side - of the building, but in the shape as it looked when the building served as a mosque and was not yet restored. The building did not have an altar at the time, as the altar was demolished when the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was converted into a mosque. This point can also be seen on the representation of the church in the city arms.

The two pictures below show characteristic features of Sofia. On the one hand the Vitosha Mountains , at the foot of which Sofia lies. On the other hand, the statue of Apollon Medicus, the god of healing, refers to the healing springs in Sofia and its surroundings. This image was also taken from the illustration on an ancient coin.

The lion in the heart shield is the traditional symbol of the Bulgarians. The lion is also the main motif in the Bulgarian national coat of arms . The Bulgarian currency is also called like this: Lev (lion). The lion image on the heart shield is copied from a medallion that was found shortly before by the French archaeologist Georges Soeur during excavations on the Trapesiza hill in Veliko Tarnovo . Georges Soeur discovered 17 churches during excavations on the Trapesitza hill at the beginning of the 20th century. The coins with portraits of lions that were found were real Bulgarian coins from the time of Ivan Schischman (around 1350-1395) , even according to the current state of research . However, the medallion is now believed to be of foreign origin, most likely it belonged to some French knight who was killed or captured during the battles of the Bulgarians with the Crusaders in the 13th century. Today it is assumed that the medallion came from a workshop in Limoges in Aquitaine .

The lion symbolizes the continuity of both cities (Veliko Tarnovo and Sofia) as the capitals of Bulgaria, as well as the continuity in the Bulgarian statehood. Veliko Tarnovo was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire from 1187 to 1393 . After that, the Ottomans ruled Bulgaria for almost 500 years and it was not until 1878, after the liberation of Bulgaria , that Sofia became the fifth capital of Bulgaria in 1878, at that time still the Principality of Bulgaria .

The first capital of Bulgaria was Pliska (capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 679 to 893), then followed Veliki Preslav (capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to approx. 972), Ohrid (was the capital of the Bulgarian Empire for a short time at the turn of the first millennium) and Veliko Tarnovo.

Only cities had the right to use a wall crown in their city arms.

history

The coat of arms of Sofia was only designed in 1900 - on the occasion of the Paris World Exhibition in the summer of 1900. Although the preparations for the Paris World Exhibition in Bulgaria began as early as 1897 and were carefully planned by the Ministry of Trade and Agriculture, suddenly there was an unexpected problem, because only a few months Before the opening of the exhibition, the French director of the world exhibition asked Bulgaria to send a coat of arms from Sofia to Paris as soon as possible, as the French organizing committee had decided to decorate the ballroom in the Invalides in Paris with the coats of arms of the capitals of the participating countries during the world exhibition .

That is why a member of the Bulgarian commission for the design of the Bulgarian pavilion in Paris was entrusted with the task at short notice in Sofia: the Czech artist Jan Václav Mrkvička (Bulgarian Иван Мърквичка ), who was the director of the state painting school . It was also Václav Dobruský ( Вацлав Добруски ), director of the National Museum entrusted with the task. In addition, they brought in Charalampi Tachev ( Харалампи Тачев ), who at the time was still a student at the State School of Painting in Sofia.

Ivan Markwitschka and Václav Dobruský also designed the Bulgarian coat of arms , which was used as the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1908 to 1944 .

This team of three quickly designed a Sofia city coat of arms for the world exhibition. The city coat of arms was then approved at the meeting of the municipality of Sofia on March 17, 1900. A discussion broke out about the nature, function and meaning of the coat of arms. As § 58 of the Tarnovo Constitution forbade titles and coats of arms and the Sofia city arms would violate it and give Sofia a privileged position over the other Bulgarian cities. It was finally agreed that the coat of arms is only a symbol for the World Exhibition in 1900 and should not have any other meaning.

In doing so, however, one was subject to an error, as the exact constitutional text read differently: § 58 "Titles for nobles and other identifying marks, as well as orders may not exist in the Principality of Bulgaria". and thus the ban on coats of arms only applied to nobles.

In the minutes of the meeting, however, the resolution was noted to frame the original of the coat of arms and to hang it up in the meeting room of the capital municipality. Later, the opinion quickly gained acceptance that this “symbol for the world exhibition” is the coat of arms of the city of Sofia.

Prince Ferdinand I , who was well versed in heraldic issues, also approved of the coat of arms.

With decree no.115 of April 24, 1900, he stipulated that the coat of arms should be depicted on the city seal and on the flag that is hoisted on the town hall, as well as in all places where it is customary to attach a city coat of arms.

There have been four coats of arms versions over the years. After it was designed in 1900, the city coat of arms was changed in 1911, 1928, 1974 and 1991.

At the suggestion of the mayor (помощник-кмета) Radi Radew, Charalampi Tachev added the motto "Grows, but does not age" to the coat of arms .

City arms of Paris

Originally the motto “Grows, doesn't age” (Bulgarian “Расте, не старее” ) was up for discussion, based on the (Latin) motto of Paris “Swims, does not go under” ( “Fluctuat nec mergitur” , “She swims, but does not go under. "). Since this Bulgarian motto would have contained 13 letters (an unlucky number ), the word “but” ( но no ) was added to have 15 letters.

In 1928 Charalampi Tachev added a branch of laurel to either side of the shield . The eternally green laurel branches are a symbol for the winner , they express youth, durability and success.

In the 1940s, the city coat of arms was simplified based on a design by Boris Angelushev ( Борис Ангелушев ).

With the Bulgarian spelling reform of 1945 , one letter in the motto was changed: due to the abolition of the Jat (ѣ), "старѢе" became "старее".

In the 1960s, Stefan Kantschew modified the coat of arms because some of its elements were not suitable for the miniaturized representation of the coat of arms, for example for protected brands , postage stamps, envelopes, certificates and invitations. So he replaced the Apollo statue with a fountain under a canopy. He also stylized the other elements of the coat of arms very strongly. He equipped the crown of Fortuna with three towers so that it resembled the wall crown above the coat of arms.

the Sofia city coat of arms on a badge, in the version with a red star (1974 to 1991)

In 1974, Ivan Radev stylized the city's coat of arms even more and added a red star to the top of the wall to mark Sofia as the socialist capital. This red star was also used in the coat of arms of the People's Republic of Bulgaria . Radew also changed the colors in the city arms. He only used gold, red and blue. He also straightened the top of the wall so that it no longer resembles a crown , but a fortress.

After the democratic upheaval in Bulgaria, the red star was removed from the city coat of arms on November 7, 1991, and the original version of the city coat of arms from 1928 was officially reverted, including the old spelling of the coat of arms.

The coat of arms can be represented in three different ways:

  • graphically in black and white
  • graphically in color
  • plastic

Coat of arms on the central market hall

In the facade of the Central Market Hall Sofia (built between 1909 and 1911) above the main entrance (east side with bell tower) and the opposite side entrance on the west side of the building, the relief of the coat of arms of Sofia, which at that time did not yet have the motto “Grows but does not age “, This was only added to the coat of arms in 1911. The coat of arms on the central market hall also shows no laurel branches and the goddess Fortuna is depicted blind on it. The design for the coat of arms on the market hall, together with the surrounding plant tendrils, comes personally from Charalampi Tachev, who also designed the coat of arms.

Individual evidence

  1. The birth of the coat of arms ( Memento of the original dated May 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bulg.) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sofia.bg
  2. The echo of the past in the coat of arms of Sofia  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bulg.)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.sofia.bg  
  3. The capital of the new Bulgaria. The birth of the coat of arms ( Memento of the original from November 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bulg.) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sofia.bg
  4. Bulgarian original text on Wikisource: [[wikisource: bg: Конституция на Българското княжество # Глава ХII ГРАЖДАНЕТЕ НА БЪЛГАРСКОТО КНЯЖЕСТВО ЗА ЗА ГРАЖДАНЕТЕ НА БЪЛГАРСКОТО КНЯЖЕСТВО ]]
  5. History of the coat of arms of Sofia ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bulg.) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bg-history.info
Commons : Sofia City Coat of Arms  - collection of images, videos and audio files