Coat of arms of the State Union Serbia and Montenegro

Official Status

The coat of arms was officially adopted by the federal parliament in 1994. It replaced the coat of arms of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia which had remained as the Federal Republic's coat of arms from 1992 to 1994. Usage of the arms was discontinued in 2006, after the dissolution of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Usage as the Coat of Arms of Serbia and Montenegro

The legal acts which reconstituted the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro stipulated that a law was to be passed by the end of 2003 specifying the Union's coat of arms and anthem. Such a law was never brought forward, and unlike with the flag and anthem, no notable proposals for a new coat of arms were ever put forward. Thus the State Union continued to use the Yugoslav arms by inertia until its dissolution in June 2006.

Heraldical description

"Two-headed eagle (silver), with quartered shield with national symbols of Montenegro (Golden lion of the House of Petrović-Njegoš) and Serbia (four firesteels with a cross)."

Origins of Coat of Arms

The coat of arms was designed after the break up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to symbolise the new union consisting only of Serbia and Montenegro. Its design thus features the traditional heraldical elements connected historically with both countries.

Throughout history, the arms of both Montenegro and Serbia have featured a double-headed eagle, usually silver, on a shield, usually red, bearing on their chests usually a red shield, which in Montenegro's case contained a golden lion while in Serbia's a cross with four firesteels, usually silver. Thus the arms of FR Yugoslavia were designed by combining these elements: the eagle is the symbol common to both countries, symbolizing their unity, the lions represent Montenegro and crosses with firesteels, Serbia.

The coat of arms was initially proposed by Dr. A. Palavestra in 1992. ["Znamenja naseg identiteta", izlozba radova clanova Srpskog heraldickog drustva, Bijeljina, 1994.] The final, adopted version followed the same blason as the original proposal but differed in graphical style.

ee also

*Coat of Arms of Serbia
*Coat of Arms of Montenegro

Notes

External links

* [http://www.qsl.net/4n1fog/eindex.htm Serbian Coat of Arms]