Last modified: 2011-12-23 by ivan sache
Keywords: coat of arms: armenia | eagle (yellow) | lion (yellow) | noah's ark | ararat |
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The coat of arms of Armenia is prescribed by the "Law on the coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia", adopted on 15 June 2006 (unofficial translation):
[...]Article 2. The Coat of Arms of the Republic of Armenia.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia is one of the state symbols of the Republic of Armenia.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia has a shield at its center. On the shield are depicted Mount Ararat together with Noah's Ark and the coats of arms of the four kingdoms of historical Armenia; top left the Bagratids, top right the Arsacids, bottom left the Artaxiads, bottom right the Rubenids. The shield is held by an eagle (on the left) and a lion (on the right), and above the shield there are depicted a sword, a branch, a bundle of wheat, a chain and a ribbon. The main colour of the coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia is golden. The colour of the kingdoms of the historical Armenia left from above is red, right from above is blue, left from bottom is blue, right from bottom is red and the mount, depicted at the center of the shield is orange. The mentioned colours symbolize the colours of the flag of the Republic of Armenia.
The image (coloured) of the coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia is presented in the component Appendix of this Law.[...]
Article 7. The Use of the Image of the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Armenia by the Armed Forces and other Troops of the Republic of Armenia.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Armenia may be displayed on the flags of the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia, border troops of the national security service, adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia, on the distinguishing badges of police troops of the Republic of Armenia, criminal executive servants of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, militaries and the ranks and authority staff of the police of the Republic of Armenia.[...]
Article 11. Transitional Provisions.
[...]
The moment this Law is in function the Decree of 29 April 1981 of the Supreme Council Presidency of ASSR on "Defining the Statute of the ASSR Coat of Arms" and the HN-0580-1HO-21 Law of the Republic of Armenia of 1992 on "State Coat of Arms of the Republic of Armenia" becomes invalid.
Ivan Sache, 8 May 2011
The colours to be used in printed versions of the coat of arms are given
(document, not part of the Law) on the CMYK scale as:
- Eagle and lion: 0-25-80-0;
- Red: 0-100-100-0;
- Blue: 100-80-0-0;
- Orange: 0-50-100-0.
Ivan Sache, 8 May 2011
The coat of arms of the Third Republic of Armenia was reestablished with slight modifications in 1991 from the original coat of arms of the First Republic of Armenia that restored the Armenian State after nearly 600 years of foreign domination of Armenia in 1918.
A shield is held by a lion and an eagle, both symbols of
historic Armenian royalty that goes back to the first Armenian
Kingdom of Ararat (Urartu) in the latter half of the second
millennium BC.
The center of the shield includes the Biblical establishment of
Armenia after the Great Flood and Noah's Ark resting on top of Mount
Ararat, the sacred symbol of Armenia and the Armenian nation.
Subsequently, the center portion representing Noah's Ark and Mount
Ararat is joined by the insignias of the four Armenian dynasties that
followed the Aramian House of Ararat in the 7th century BC:
- The bottom left portion represents the Artaxiad Royal House,
the insignia is particularly famously represented in the Armenian
silver and gold coins of the Armenian emperor Tigranes the Great
of the Artaxiad Dynasty in the early half of the Ist century BC.
- The upper right portion represents the Armenian Royal House of
the Arsacids, among whose most famed representatives was Tiridates
III who, with the support of Catholicos St. Gregory the Illuminator, made Armenia the first Christian nation in 301 AD.
- The upper left portion represents the Royal House of the
Bagratids, under whose gifted leadership in the Middle Ages,
Armenian culture blossomed, represented with the grandeur of
towns such as Ani - the Town of 1001 Churches - as it was called
by its contemporaries in praise of the town. The Town of Ani was
called "the Jewel of the East", and became one of the most
important cultural, social and commercial centers of its time. The
town was sacked and looted with the coming of the Turco-Mongol
invasions from Central Asia led by the nomadic chieftain
Alp-Arslan in the 11th century.
- The bottom right portion represents the Rubenid Royal House of
Cilician Armenia. Cilician Armenia or Little Armenia as it was
known to Western historians was to the west of historic Greater
Armenia on the beautiful shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilician
Armenia under the gifted dynasties of the Rubenids and Hetumids,
with prominent representatives such as Leon the Magnificent and
Hetum I became a major commercial and cultural center with its
beautiful towns such as the capital of Sis and renowned
town-ports such as Ayas. The bustling port-town of Ayas had in the
12th-13th centuries Armenian, French, Greek, Jewish,
Venetian, Genoan and Pisan boroughs that were populated by
merchants and craftsmen doing business with people from all over
the world, from all walks of life. The town-port was obliterated
and destroyed in the 15th century by the Ottoman Turks.
A vertically pointed sword breaks the chains of foreign oppression
and the shield symbolically represents the guardianship of the
Armenian State.
The symbol of wheat in the lower part of the coat of arms represents
the sacredness of the soil while the olive branches represent the
aspiration principles of the Armenian people to goodwill and peace.
Gevork Nazaryan, 22 March 2001
![[Coat of arm of Armenia]](../images/a/am)parl.gif)
![[Coat of arm of Armenia]](../images/a/am)gov.gif)
Former representations of the coat of arms of Armenia - Images by Luc Baronian, 29 April 2005
- left, as displayed in front of the Armenian Parliament;
- right, as shown on the former websites of the Armenian government, the Armenian Parliament and the Armenian Embassy in Washington
The Constitution of Armenia does not specify the colors of the coat of arms, hence there were many colour variants until the adoption of the afrementioned law.
On the coat of arms displayed in front of the national Parliament, the eagle and lion are clearly gold, the quarters blue and red with golden emblems, the central piece is silver on orange, the outlines of the central piece and quarters are silver.
On the coat of arms shown on several official websites, the only difference with the Parliament's version is that all emblems are in silver.
Luc Baronian, 29 April 2005