| Coat Of Arms Of Hungary |
Article Index for Coat Of |
Website Links For Coat |
Information AboutCoat Of Arms Of Hungary |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT COAT OF ARMS OF HUNGARY | |
| national symbols of hungary | |
| national coats of arms | |
| hungary | |
|
The coat of arms of Hungary was adopted in July 1990 , after the end of the Socialist regime, although it has been used before, both with and without the Crown , sometimes as part of a larger, more complex coat of arms, and many of its elements date back to the Middle Ages . It is usually said that the silver stripes represent four rivers ( Duna , Tisza , Dráva , Száva ) and the hills represent three mountain ranges ( Mátra , Tátra , Fátra ), but this theory is historically unfounded. HISTORY OF THE COAT OF ARMS The most ancient element of the coat of arms is the Patriarchal Cross , which shows Byzantine influence. It appeared around 1190 during the reign of King Béla III who was raised in the Byzantine court. On later versions three hills and a crown appear at the foot of the cross. The red and white stripes were the symbol of the House Of Árpád and they were first used in the coat of arms in 1202 on a Seal of King Imre . This seal didn't include the double cross, only the stripes, and there were nine Lion s on the white stripes. This coat of arms was used for a short time only; Béla IV used the one with the Patriarchal Cross again. When the House of Árpád became extinct and the Angevin s came into power, they wanted to emphasize their legitimacy and their relation to the previous royal house by using the Árpáds' coat of arms, the red and white stripes. Later they combined this coat of arms with their own, using a coat of arms that resembles the one currently in use, but with the Angevins' Fleur-de-lis in place of the cross. The coat of arms with the stripes on the left and the cross on the hills on the right appeared during the reign of Louis I (1342-1382). The Crown Of St. Stephen above the coat of arms appeared during the reign of Ulászló I ( Vladislaus , 1440-1444). , Slavonia , Fiume , Transylvania , and Croatia ]] In the following centuries, the coat of arms of Hungary became more and more complex. It included the coats of arms of the territories that joined the Kingdom Of Hungary , like Croatia , Dalmatia and Slavonia , and conquered Serbia , but the so-called "small coat of arms" always remained the central piece. (The more complex ones were called "middle" and "large coat of arms".) When Hungary became part of the Habsburg Empire , the coat of arms became a part of that of the Empire, but later it became of marginal importance and during the reign of Joseph II it was omitted from the coins. During the Revolution and War of Independence in 1848-49 the small coat of arms was adopted. In December 1848 Louis Kossuth modified it, removing the Holy Crown, indicating that Hungary became an independent nation without a Monarch . The small coat of arms without the Holy Crown is usually referred to as "Kossuth's Coat of Arms" today. (Foreigners might find it a somewhat misleading name, since it was ''not'' the coat of arms of the Kossuth family.) After the revolution was repressed, this coat of arms wasn't used again until 1867 , the compromise between Austria and Hungary (" Ausgleich "), when the small coat of arms again became a part of a more complex coat of arms representing several countries belonging to Austria-Hungary . In 1918 the Kossuth-style coat of arms was used again for a short while, then the small coat of arms (with the Holy Crown) again became the official one. During World War II Nazi symbols were added to it. Between 1946 and 1949 the Kossuth-style coat of arms was used, then the Communist regime introduced a new state coat of arms with a layout closely resembling that of the Soviet Union 's coat of arms. This symbol, known as "Rákosi badge" was not popular with the majority of the Hungarian population and was replaced with the ''Kossuth Coat of Arms'' during the 1956 revolution. In old Newsreel s the Kossuth badge can be seen painted onto the turrets of many revolutionary tanks fighting against the Soviet invasion in Budapest streets. After the Red Army troops returned the Communist party to power in early 1957 , a new Socialist coat of arms was created by combining the general shape of ''Rákosi badge'' with a small ''Kossuth Coat of Arms'' in the middle that had its entire area covered by the Hungarian national tricolor. This so called "Kádár badge" conveniently omitted the cross from the declaredly Atheist Hungarian worker-state insignia, but it was quickly scrapped during the change of regime. Since 1990 the historical crowned small coat of arms has served as the official symbol of the Hungarian Republic . EXTERNAL LINKS
SEE ALSO
|
|
|