Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Encyclopedia
The coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
was adopted in 1998, replacing the previous design that had been in use since 1992 when Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence, and follows the design of the national flag
. The three pointed shield is specific and is to symbolize the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia, as well as allude to the shape of the country. The star
s were adopted to replace the fleur de lys
that were found on more ancient coat of arms to avoid singling out the Bosniak
ethnicity as most prominent, and possibly to allude to the European Union
, of which the state is recognized as a potential candidate for entry.
with two Moor's
heads surmounting the upper portion of each staff. Overall is a red inescutheon that was charged with an eight-pointed star and crescent. In the subsequent centuries, European sources would attribute arms to Bosnia that were heavily influenced by this depiction.
The coat of arms of the Kings of Bosnia, who ruled from 1377 until 1463 over the area that is present day Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia
, consisted of a blue shield with six gold fleur de lys displayed around a white bend
; the fleur de lys perhaps symbolic of Lilium bosniacum
, which is a native lily to the area. The crest is a plume of peacock feathers that sit within a coronet of fleur de lys. The House of Kotromanić
reigned until 1463 when the Ottomans conquered the region, ceasing then the use of the royal coat of arms in Bosnia. The heraldic display of the kings would later be the basis for the arms adopted by the republic in 1992.
After Herzegovina and Bosnia were occupied by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
in 1878, both condominia
received arms from the Empire. The heraldic achievement of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača
served as inspiration, who was a fifteenth century nobleman that ruled over the region as Grand Duke of Bosnia and Herzeg of St. Sava. His armorial bearings displayed both a red armoured arm brandishing a sword and a red lion rampant upon a white shield, with two red bars running across the chief. Herzegovina would be given a red shield with a bare arm holding a broken lance for its coat of arms in this same fashion. The coat of arms of Bosnia would be gold with a red armoured arm issuing out of clouds, brandishing a sword. Though both condominia fell under the crown of Hungary, only Bosnia would be included in the greater arms of the Hungarian Kings.
In the nineteenth century, the nationalist movement that had risen against both the former Ottoman
rule and contemporary Austro-Hungarian occupation temporarily revived the arms from the Fojnica armorial.
The device represents the industry Bosnia and Herzegovina had at the time. The factory chimneys show the industry of several important Bosnian, then Yugoslav, towns and their vital influence towards the economy. All of the Yugoslav republics had similar emblems, but Bosnia and Herzegovina was the only that did not portray nationalistic symbols, representing its multiethnic composition.
The national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was exactly the same as was the previous device of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and defined in its Constitution. This was the first emblem ever in the history of both the regions of Herzegovina and Bosnia that was specific to the entire modern country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
.svg.png)
The coat of arms of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was similar to that of the Kotromanić dynasty. It had a blue background divided by a white line. The diagonal white line is actually supposed to symbolize the sword of Tvrtko and his might as a ruler. The coat of arms was designed in a hurry, right at the beginning of the Bosnian War
, which lasted for three years. At the end of the war, there came uproar from the Bosnian Serbs arguing that the coat of arms solely represented Bosniaks
. The international community within Bosnia and Herzegovina was the instrument to solve the controversy. In early 1998, a commission for the flag change was created and the same year the current coat of arms was adopted in order to help alleviate the tensions among ethnicities. The current one, however, lacks any history relating to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The current coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina presents the typical straight top, oval sides, and spiked bottom. The coat of arms has two separate background colors, dark blue and gold. Both colors are seen in the coat of arms between 1992 and 1998. Even though the current coat of arms does not directly relate with Bosnian-Herzegovinian history, the colors that were used were the ones from the former coat of arms. The top right corner forms a yellow triangle symbolizing the shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina, portraying the sky, rivers and lakes. Through this the coat of arms portrays the Bosnian and Herzegovinian historical continuity and its historical statehood.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
was adopted in 1998, replacing the previous design that had been in use since 1992 when Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence, and follows the design of the national flag
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow isosceles triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag...
. The three pointed shield is specific and is to symbolize the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia, as well as allude to the shape of the country. The star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s were adopted to replace the fleur de lys
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
that were found on more ancient coat of arms to avoid singling out the Bosniak
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
ethnicity as most prominent, and possibly to allude to the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, of which the state is recognized as a potential candidate for entry.
Historic arms
One of the earliest, if not the earliest, coats of arms attributed to Bosnia come from the Fojnica armorial, which was completed in 1340. The Fojnički arms are shown upon a gold shield, two black ragged staffs are crossed in saltireSaltire
A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
with two Moor's
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
heads surmounting the upper portion of each staff. Overall is a red inescutheon that was charged with an eight-pointed star and crescent. In the subsequent centuries, European sources would attribute arms to Bosnia that were heavily influenced by this depiction.
The coat of arms of the Kings of Bosnia, who ruled from 1377 until 1463 over the area that is present day Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, consisted of a blue shield with six gold fleur de lys displayed around a white bend
Bend (heraldry)
In heraldry, a bend is a coloured band running from the upper right corner of the shield to the lower left . Writers differ in how much of the field they say it covers, ranging from one-fifth up to one-third...
; the fleur de lys perhaps symbolic of Lilium bosniacum
Lilium bosniacum
Lilium bosniacum is a lily native to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's also known as Zlatni Ljiljan and Bosanski Ljiljan .L. bosniacum has often been lumped and split and lumped again...
, which is a native lily to the area. The crest is a plume of peacock feathers that sit within a coronet of fleur de lys. The House of Kotromanić
House of Kotromanic
The Kotromanić dynasty was a ruling house that ruled in the medieval Bosnia and the surrounding lands, from the 13th century as Bans until the crowning with the Bosnian crowns in 1377 and then as kings until the Ottoman conquest conquest in 1463....
reigned until 1463 when the Ottomans conquered the region, ceasing then the use of the royal coat of arms in Bosnia. The heraldic display of the kings would later be the basis for the arms adopted by the republic in 1992.
After Herzegovina and Bosnia were occupied by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
in 1878, both condominia
Condominium (international law)
In international law, a condominium is a political territory in or over which two or more sovereign powers formally agree to share equally dominium and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it up into 'national' zones.Although a condominium has always been...
received arms from the Empire. The heraldic achievement of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača
Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca
Stjepan Vukčić Kosača was a Herzegovina nobleman. He was a member of the House of Kosača, a Grand Duke of Herzegovina, Lord of Zahumlje and Primorje and also Herzog of Serbian Saint Sava...
served as inspiration, who was a fifteenth century nobleman that ruled over the region as Grand Duke of Bosnia and Herzeg of St. Sava. His armorial bearings displayed both a red armoured arm brandishing a sword and a red lion rampant upon a white shield, with two red bars running across the chief. Herzegovina would be given a red shield with a bare arm holding a broken lance for its coat of arms in this same fashion. The coat of arms of Bosnia would be gold with a red armoured arm issuing out of clouds, brandishing a sword. Though both condominia fell under the crown of Hungary, only Bosnia would be included in the greater arms of the Hungarian Kings.
In the nineteenth century, the nationalist movement that had risen against both the former Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule and contemporary Austro-Hungarian occupation temporarily revived the arms from the Fojnica armorial.
| Kotromanić coat of arms 14th century | Fojnica Armorial Fojnica Armorial The so-called Fojnica Armorial is an early modern roll of arms of the Balkans... 17th century. A similar coat of arms is shown in the Korenić-Neorić Armorial Korenić-Neorić Armorial The Korenić-Neorić Armorial is a 1595 copy of the lost original of the Ohmućević Armorial commissioned by Petar Ohmućević , a Spanish admiral of Ragusan origin, at some point between 1584 and 1594... (1595). | Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu Joan Blaeu was a Dutch cartographer.He was born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu.In 1620 he became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635 they published the Atlas Novus in two volumes... 1668 | Austro-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1878–1918 |
Socialist era
The emblem, along with the flag, of the socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted on December 31, 1946. The description of the emblem was similar to the other Yugoslav republics. The device had two crossing stems of wheat in front of scheme of a neighborhood with two factory chimneys out of which there is smoke. Around the decorative branches and wheat, there is a red track that spirals around. At the top of the emblem is a red star with a golden frame. The red star symbolizes the socialism and communism of Yugoslavia at the time.The device represents the industry Bosnia and Herzegovina had at the time. The factory chimneys show the industry of several important Bosnian, then Yugoslav, towns and their vital influence towards the economy. All of the Yugoslav republics had similar emblems, but Bosnia and Herzegovina was the only that did not portray nationalistic symbols, representing its multiethnic composition.
The national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was exactly the same as was the previous device of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and defined in its Constitution. This was the first emblem ever in the history of both the regions of Herzegovina and Bosnia that was specific to the entire modern country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Modern arms
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
, which lasted for three years. At the end of the war, there came uproar from the Bosnian Serbs arguing that the coat of arms solely represented Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
. The international community within Bosnia and Herzegovina was the instrument to solve the controversy. In early 1998, a commission for the flag change was created and the same year the current coat of arms was adopted in order to help alleviate the tensions among ethnicities. The current one, however, lacks any history relating to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The current coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina presents the typical straight top, oval sides, and spiked bottom. The coat of arms has two separate background colors, dark blue and gold. Both colors are seen in the coat of arms between 1992 and 1998. Even though the current coat of arms does not directly relate with Bosnian-Herzegovinian history, the colors that were used were the ones from the former coat of arms. The top right corner forms a yellow triangle symbolizing the shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina, portraying the sky, rivers and lakes. Through this the coat of arms portrays the Bosnian and Herzegovinian historical continuity and its historical statehood.
See also
- Coat of arms of Yugoslavia
- Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaFederation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina . The two entities are delineated by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line...
, one of two sub-national entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCoat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted on November 5, 1996. The green background and the golden fleur-de-lis represented the Bosniaks, while the chequy shield represented the Bosnian Croats. The ten stars arranged in a circle represented the 10 cantons of the...
, for the sub-national entity's coat of arms - Republika SrpskaRepublika SrpskaRepublika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, one of two sub-national entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Seal of Republika Srpska, for the sub-national entity's emblem
- Coat of armsCoat of armsA coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
- HeraldryHeraldryHeraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...