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Coat Of Arms Of France




The current coat of arms of France has been a symbol of France since 1953 , although it does not have any legal status as an official coat of arms. It appears on the cover of French Passport s and was originally adopted by the French Foreign Ministry as a symbol for use by diplomatic and consular missions in 1912 using a design drawn up by the sculptor Jules-Clément Chaplain.

In 1953, France was faced with a request from the United Nations for a copy of the national coat of arms to be displayed alongside the coats of arms of other member states in its assembly chamber. An inter-ministerial commission requested Robert Louis (1902-1965), heraldic artist, to produce a version of the Chaplain design. This did not, however, amount to the adoption of an official coat of arms by the Republic.

Technically speaking, it is an emblem rather than a coat of arms, since it does not respect Heraldic rules—heraldry being seen as an aristocratic art, and therefore associated with the Ancien Régime .



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