Coat of arms of Bucharest

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Coat of arms

The Coat of arms of Bucharest was created during the rule of Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, changed under the Communist regime, and used again, with minor alterations, since 1994.

1 Description
2 History
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Description

The coat of arms is a bleu celeste escutcheon charged with an or eagle facing dexter (standing for the historical region of Wallachia - see Coat of arms of Wallachia), crowned bleu celeste, blazoned langued and armed gules with a Latin cross in its beak, standing over the motto PATRIA ŞI DREPTUL MEU ("The Fatherland and My Right") on a scroll tricoloured horizontally red-yellow-blue (the colours of the Romanian flag).

The eagle bears in its claws a sword dexter, a tenné sceptre sinister, and on its breast a gules in the escutcheon with thin azure bordure, charged with the image of Saint Dimitrie Basarabov holding a spear dexter and a Latin cross sinister.^[1] The saint, who is the city's patron, is commonly referred to as, and confounded with, Saint Demetrius^[2] - today's arms seem to represent the latter, as the person depicted is dressed in a Roman uniform.^[3]

The escutcheon is adorned with a crest composed of a seven-towered argent mural crown over which stands a stylised sable eagle wings displayed facing dexter, with a Latin cross in its beak.

[edit] History

Coat of arms of Bucharest (1868)

A heraldic symbol for Bucharest was first used on seals of the town's jude and pârgari as early as the 16th century: it usually featured images of the Madonna and Child or the Annunciation, and was accompanied by an inscription in either Church Slavonic or Romanian, which simply read variations on the phrase "this is the seal of Bucharest".^[4]

Under the Organic Statute rule of Pavel Kiselyov, the city was awarded a new symbol, as the image of a standing woman wearing a shoulder sash and carrying the Scales of Justice (in 1862, the woman was represented as seated, and carrying both the Scales and, in her left hand, flowers and ears of wheat).^[5]

According to Constantin C. Giurescu, Cuza changed the seal to depict the patron saint and an image of the mythical shepherd Bucur;^[6] however, it appears that Saint Dimitrie Basarabov (or Saint Demetrius) was introduced as a symbol during his reign (in 1864 — as attested by Monitorul Oficial).^[7] The arms were expanded after World War I - when the mural crown and all other present-day elements were added, and the image of Bucur was dropped.^[8]

Coat of arms of Bucharest in 1970-1989

No symbol was in use during between 1948 and the administrative reforms carried out by the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. In 1970, a new coat of arms was adopted, which was official until the Romanian Revolution of 1989; it was meant to represent "the most characteristic elements of historical traditions and of political, economic, and social relations".^[9]

It was divided party per fess azure and gules fields, with an inescutcheon divided party per pale and charged with the crest of Communist Romania (hammer and sickle symbol of the Romanian Communist Party on red, dexter; flag of Romania, sinster). The top half of the field was landscaped charged with an or eagle wings displayed facing sinister, over the argent image of the Palace of the Patriarchy); the lower half was charged with the lower half of a cogwheel or and an open book with the or-lettered motto CIVITAS (dexter) and NOSTRA (sinister) - reading "Civitas Nostra" (Latin for "Our City").^[10]