Coat of arms of Croatia

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The Coat of arms of Croatia consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard (chequy) that consists of 13 red and 12 silver (white) fields. It's commonly known as šahovnica ("chessboard", from šah, "chess" in Croatian). The five smaller shields represent five different geographical regions that comprise Croatia.

Contents 1 History 2 The current design 3 Trivia 4 Gallery 5 External links

[edit] History

The red and white checkerboard has been a symbol of Croatian kings since at least the 10th century, ranging in size from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like the current coat. It was traditionally conjenctured that the colours originally represented two ancient Croat tribes, Red Croats and White Croats, but there is no generally accepted proof for this theory. The oldest source confirming the coat as an official symbol is a genealogy of the Habsburgs, dated from 1512 to 1518. In 1525 it was used on a votive medal.

The oldest known example of the šahovnica in Croatia is to be found on the wings of four falcons on a baptismal font donated by king Petar Krešimir IV of Croatia (1058–1074) to the Archbishop of Split.

The oldest known coat of arms of Croatia (six-pointed star over a moon), coat of arms of Dalmatia and coat of arms of Slavonia (as well as the šahovnica) were all at times used as the Coat of Arms to represent the whole Croatia, especially in early heraldic period. Towards the Late Middle Ages the distinction for the three crown lands (Croatia 'proper', Dalmatia, Slavonia) was made. The šahovnica was used as the coat of arms of Croatia proper & together with the shields for Slavonia and Dalmatia was often used to represent the whole of Croatia in Austria-Hungary. An example of where the Croatian coat of arms was constituted of the šahovnica & Dalmatian (top half of coat of arms), & Slavonian (bottom half of coat of arms) crests include the:

• Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in Habsburg Empire (1848-1852) - as depicted on the roof of St Mark's Church in Zagreb;
• Triune Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia (1867 - 1918).

The two are the same except for the position of the šahovnica & Dalmatian coat of arms which are switched around & with different crowns used above the shield - the later employing St Stephen's crown (associated with Hungarian kings).

By late 19th century šahovnica had come to be considered a generally recognized symbol for Croats and Croatia and in 1919, it was included in the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) to represent Croats. When the Banovina of Croatia was formed, the šahovnica (chequy gules and argent) was retained as the official symbol.

The fascist Ustashe regime which had ruled Croatia during the World War II superimposed their ideological symbol, the letter "U" above or around the šahovnica (upper left square white) as the official national symbol during their rule.

After the Second World War, the new Socialist Republic of Croatia became a part of the federal Second Yugoslavia. The šahovnica was included in the new socialist coat of arms which like the Ustashe before them, superimposed their ideological symbols. It was designed in the socialist tradition, including symbols like wheat for peasants and an anvil for workers, as well as a rising sun to symbolize a new morning and a red star for communism.

During the change to multiparty elections in Croatia (as part of the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe from the late 1980s), and prior to the establishment of the current design, the šahovnica, shedding the communist symbols that were the hallmark of Croatia in the second Yugoslavia, reappeared as a stand-alone symbol as both the 'upper left square red' and 'upper left square white' variants.

[edit] The current design

On 21 December 1990, the post-communist government of Croatia, passed a law prescribing the design created by the graphic designer Miroslav Šutej, under the aegis of a commission chaired by Nikša Stančić, then head of the Department of Croatian History at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb.

The new design added the five crowning shields which represent the historical regions from which Croatia originated. They are, from left to right:

1. the oldest known Croatian coat of arms: a golden six-pointed star (representing the morning star) over a silver moon on a blue shield. It represents the capital city Zagreb and central Croatia in general.
2. an older coat of arms of the Republic of Dubrovnik: two red stripes on a dark blue shield. The coat of arms on the flags and stone portals of Dubrovnik were painted black as a sign of grief by Dubrovnik' s citizens after the invasion by Napoleon.
3. the coat of arms of Dalmatia: three golden, crowned leopards, two over one, on a blue shield. This coat of arms originates from the Roman Emperor Diocletian who made Spalato (today Split) the capital of the Western Roman Empire. His palace, to this day, still stands in Split.
4. the coat of arms of Istria: a golden goat with red hooves and horns, on a dark blue shield.
5. the coat of arms of Slavonia: two silver stripes on blue shield (representing the rivers Drava and Sava that mark the northern and the southern border of Slavonia), between them on a red field a black, running marten (kuna in Croatian - note national currency is related to the marten - Croatian kuna), above a six-pointed, golden star. This coat was to Slavonia was officially recognised by king Ladislaus Jagiello in 1496.

Some of the more traditional heraldic pundits have criticized the latest design for various unorthodox solutions, such as adding a crown to the coat, varying shades of blue in its even fields, and adding the red border around the coat. The government has accepted their criticism insofar as not accepting further non-traditional designs for the county coats of arms, but the national symbol has remained intact.

Unlike in many countries, Croatian design more commonly uses symbolism from the coat-of-arms, rather than from the Croatian flag. This is partly due to the geometric design of the shield which makes it appropriate for use in many graphic contexts (e.g. the insignia of Croatia Airlines or the design of the shirt for the Croatia national football team), and partly due to the fact that neighbouring countries like Slovenia and Serbia use the same Pan-Slavic colours on their flags as Croatia.

[edit] Trivia

• The pattern of šahovnica resembles an autochthonous flower called kockavica, which is sometimes associated with the coat of arms.
• Some right-wing Croats claimed that the colour of the top left square is a mark of whether Croatia is independent or ruled by foreigners, white or red respectively. However, this notion is contradicted by the coat of arms during the short-lived Nazi puppet state "Independent State of Croatia", periods of Habsburg rule & domination by the Magyar monarchs - all with 'upper left square white'. Croatia is currently independent and the first square is red. The preferred design also varies by geography with 'upper left square white' historically preferred by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in diaspora; and 'upper left square red' by those in Hrvatsko Zagorje and parts of Dalmatia. The stand-alone 'upper left square white' design being associated with nationalists is a red herring because of its adoption by politically neutral groups and that existing on many historic buildings and cultural artifacts in Croatia and other parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, is the šahovnica in both its 'upper left square red' and 'upper left square white' variants; stand-alone or with other crests and predate the perceived political connotations of the modern era. The choice of 'upper left square red' or 'upper left square white' is more often dictated by heraldic laws and aesthetic requirements.
• On the issue of whether the upper left square should be white or red, the following is stated on a 'vexillology and heraldry' website ("Croatia - History of the National Flag" - by Željko Heimer)

"What does heraldry say on that? Heraldic definition of chequered red and white does not say anything on which one goes first. However, most of books refer that if the shield stands for its own, it should have red first, mainly for aestethical purposes, making the borders of the shield more visible. If the shield stands together with others, e.g. in the trierced shield of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, or the one of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it is better to have the white one first, so that more metal (white) than colour (red) is against the coloured fields (red, blue) of the other two."

• In heraldry sources, the šahovnica is often referred to as chequy arms.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] External links

• Željko Heimer's explanation of the coat of arms
• Coat of Arms discussion
• Republic of Croatia - Ministry of Foreign Affairs & European Integration
• Croatian Government website - Flag, Coat-of-Arms and National Anthem
• Croatian Coat of Arms during centuries - Darko Zubrinic, 2005
• Stan Granic: Evolution and use of the Croatian coat of arms, The Canadian Slavonic Papers, Sep-Dec 1996
• Croatia - History of the National Flag - Zeljko Heimer 1995
• Croatia - Coat of Arms - Zeljko Heimer 2000
• Croatia - Proposals for New Flag in 1990 - Flags of The World
• Croatia - Political Flags - Flags of The World
• C. Michael McAdamas: Croatia - Myth and Reality