Coat of arms of Bucharest

Coat of arms of Bucharest
Details
Armiger	Government of the city of Bucharest
Adopted	1994
Crest	A seven tower mural crown with a black eagle
Escutcheon	Azure: or eagle facing dexter, crowned azure
Supporters	None
Motto	Romanian: PATRIA ŞI DREPTUL MEU
Other elements	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; Latin cross in its beak; dexter claw: sword, sinister claw: a Tenné sceptre

The coat of arms of Bucharest is the heraldic symbol standing for Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The present-day coat of arms was created during the rule of Domnitor Alexander John Cuza; changed under the Communist regime, it was used again, with minor alterations, since 1994.

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^[1] — today's arms seem to represent the latter, as the person depicted is dressed in a Roman uniform.^[2]

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.

History

Coat of arms of Bucharest (1864)

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".^[3]

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).^[3]

According to Constantin C. Giurescu, Cuza changed the seal to depict the patron saint and an image of the mythical shepherd Bucur;^[3] 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).^[2] 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.^[3]

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".^[4]

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 Patriarchate); 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").^[5]

See also

• History of Bucharest

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Giurescu, p.350; Vasilescu
2. ^ ^{a b} Vasilescu
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Giurescu, p.350
4. ^ 1970 Decree
5. ^ Mic Dicţionar Enciclopedic (addenda - counties and cities' coats of arms)

References

• (Romanian) Decree nr. 503 16/12/70 regarding the establishment of county and municipality seals, at the Chamber of Deputies of Romania site, retrieved July 4, 2007
• Mic Dicţionar Enciclopedic, Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică, 1978
• Constantin C. Giurescu, Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre, Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966
• (Romanian) Gheorghe Vasilescu, Sfântul Cuvios Dimitrie, ocrotitorul spiritual al Bucureştiului, at the Romanian Patriarchy Site, retrieved July 4, 2007