Coat of arms used in Romania

All the coats of arms of all the Romanian institutions must be approved by the National Committee of Heraldry, Genealogy and Sealography ("Comisia Naţională de Heraldică, Genealogie şi Sigilografie"), subordinated to the Romanian Academy.

Coat of arms of Romania

Principality of Romania

1862 - 1866

After the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as "Domnitor" of Wallachia and of Moldavia, the heraldic symbols of the two countries were united to form the coat of arms of the new state, called, since 1862, Romania. The idea was not new: most of the Phanariotes used the united symbols in their personal coat of arms to express the fact that they ruled in both countries.

Until 1866, there was no official design of the coat of arms, although painter Carol Popp de Szathmary drew a few models.

1866 - 1878

After 10 May 1866 (when Carol I came to Romania), and the Constitution of 1 June 1866, the coat of arms was established, maintaining the idea used in the previous coat of arms. It was not changed until 1878, the year that Romania gained its independence and became a Kingdom.

Kingdom of Romania

1872 - 1921

In 1872 the coat of arms was changed again, this time being added the heraldic symbols for Oltenia and Black Sea's coast. After 1881, the last symbol will represent Dobrudja. Also, trough use, the coat of arms' aspect was changed a bit.

1922 - 1947

After World War I, Transylvania, Bessarabia, Banat, and Bukovina united with the Kingdom of Romania. As a result, the symbols representing the new territories were added to the coat of arms.

People's Republic of Romania

ocialist Republic of Romania

Romania

1989 - 1992

Right after the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu and the communist regime, the communist emblem was cut out of all flags, and removed from all official seals of the nation. Some flags had a hole (a symbol of the revolution), some become pure blue-yellow-red, as later officially readopted. In the place of the coat of arms, institutions' seals bore the name of the country: ROMANIA or ROMÂNIA depending on the technology available for each institution.

1992 - present day

In 1992 the Parliament of Romania adopted the current coat of arms, by merging two proposed models, both of them inspired by the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Romania.

=Coat of arms of counties=

Coat of arms of towns

The main heraldic element that helps people to distinguish between a coat of arms of a county and the one of an urban entity (village, commune, city, town or municipality) is a mural crown on the top of the latter. The crown has an odd number of towers (one, three, five or seven), depending on the importance of the urban entity in the country or county.

County seats

Coat of arms of other central institutions

Parliament

Ministries

Former coats of arms

Law enforcement

Army

ecret services

References

Other Wikipedia pages

External links

* [http://www.herbarz.net/iaah/articles/tiron_jan2005.htm Romanian Personal Heraldry] by Tudor-Radu Tiron