Image:Romania Coat of Arms.png
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After 1859 (when Wallachia and Moldavia united into one state) the question of a representative coat of arms arose. In 1863 the solution was found of joining the ancient, traditional symbols of Wallachia (the golden eagle with cross) and Moldavia (the auroch with a star between its horns)(See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Romania%2CPrincipality_1867.jpg) In1872 Romania’s heraldry commission proposed a synthetic coat of arms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Romania%2CPrincipality1872%28TZ%29.jpg) that combined the traditional symbols of the Romanian provinces Wallachia, Moldavia, Krajova and Dobrudscha. In the centre was the black and white shield of the new Romanian dynasty, the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a European royal house with origins in the early Middle Ages, which gave Romania four kings, the first of whom - Carol I, 1866-1914 - was the one that raised the country to the rank of a kingdom in 1881. The coat of arms was adopted by the Government of Romania and was in use until 1921 when, following the ‘Great Union’ of December 1, 1918, the new coat of arms of Greater Romania was devised (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Romania1922%28TZ%29.jpg). Central in the arms is the golden eagle with cross. Traditionally, this – roman like - eagle appears in the arms of Wallachia and Transylvania. The eagle holds in its talons the insignia of sovereignty: a sceptre and a sabre, the latter reminding of Moldavia’s ruler, Stephen the Great (1456-1504), also called “Christ’s athlete” whereas the sceptre reminds of Michael the Brave (1593-1601), the first unifier of the Romanian Countries. On the bird’s chest there is a quartered escutcheon with the symbols of the historical Romanian provinces (Wallachia, Moldavia, Banat, Transylvania and in between the two face-to-face dolphins. The crown of Romania (made from the steel of a cannon captured at Pleven, during the 1877-1878 Independence War through which the country won its independence from the Ottoman Empire) was now placed on the shield.
The coat of arms of Greater Romania was replaced in 1947, when the Romanian People’s Republic was proclaimed under pressure from the Soviet occupation troops. After the 1989 Revolution the heraldic commission set up to design a new coat of arms for Romania. September 10th 1992 The shield of the 1922 arms was in fact reintroduced, be it without the Hohenzollern escutcheon as King Michael I was not reinstated as head of state.