We are all accustomed to the Moscow coat of arms, to the image of St. George the Victorious on a horse, slaying a serpent. However, we do not think about its history, about where and when it came to Russia. It is worth saying that Saint George is a common Christian saint, revered in many other countries, for example, he is the patron saint of England. And foreigners are sometimes very surprised where it comes from - in Moscow, on the coat of arms of the city and even the country.
Officially, the coat of arms of the city of Moscow has existed since December 20, 1781. On this day it was “highly approved” along with the coats of arms of other cities of the Moscow province.
In the Complete Collection of Laws Russian Empire our capital's coat of arms is described as follows: “Saint George on horseback, opposite the one in the middle of the state coat of arms, in a red field, striking with a copy of a black serpent.” It was also noted that the coat of arms is “old”. This meant that the emblem was previously known.
Indeed, the horseman slaying the dragon with a spear was used for several centuries as component sovereign Russian coat of arms. That is, there was no coat of arms as such in ancient times, but there were seals and coins with similar images. The custom of placing a portrait of a prince on seals and coins, as well as an image of a saint whom the prince considered his patron, came to Rus' from Byzantium at the end of the 10th century .
At the beginning of the 11th century, an image of St. George appears on the coins and seals of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who took the name Yuri (George). The founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky, continued this tradition. On his seal there is also a saint, standing at full height and drawing a sword from its sheath. The image of St. George was on the seals of Yuri Dolgoruky’s brother Mstislav, the serpent warrior was present on numerous seals of Alexander Nevsky, and he is found on the coins of Ivan II the Red and Dmitry Donskoy’s son Vasily. And on the coins of Vasily II the Dark, the emblem of St. George takes on a form close to what was later established on the Moscow coat of arms. Saint George has been considered the patron saint of Moscow since the time of Dmitry Donskoy.
St. George the Victorious and the Serpent
The killing of the serpent (dragon) is one of the most famous posthumous miracles of St. George. According to legend, a serpent devastated the land of a pagan king in Beirut. As the legend says, when the lot fell to give the king’s daughter to be torn to pieces by the monster, George appeared on horseback and pierced the snake with a spear, saving the princess from death. The appearance of the saint contributed to the conversion of local residents to Christianity. This legend was often interpreted allegorically: the princess - the church, the snake - paganism. This is also seen as a victory over the devil - the “ancient serpent”.
There is a description option this miracle, relating to the life of George. In it, the saint subdues the snake with prayer and the girl destined for sacrifice leads him to the city, where the inhabitants, seeing this miracle, accept Christianity, and George kills the snake with a sword.
Saint George on an icon of the second half of the 16th century, from Novgorod.
Veneration of St. George in other countries
This saint has become extremely popular since early Christianity. He suffered torment in Nicomedia, and soon he began to be revered in Phenicia, Palestine, and then throughout the east. In Rome in the 7th century there were already two churches in honor of him, and in Gaul he has been revered since the 5th century.
Saint George on the Georgian icon.
George is considered the patron saint of warriors, farmers and shepherds, and in some places - of travelers. In Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, believers turn to him with prayers for rain. In Georgia, people turn to George with requests for protection from evil, for good luck in hunting, for the harvest and offspring of livestock, for healing from illnesses, and for childbearing. In Western Europe, it is believed that prayers to St. George (George, Jorge) help get rid of poisonous snakes and contagious diseases. Saint George is known to the Islamic peoples of Africa and the Middle East under the names Jirjis and al-Khadr. George is also the patron saint of Portugal, Genoa, Venice (together with Apostle Mark) and Barcelona. Well, and of course, England. Back in the 10th century, churches dedicated to St. were built in England. George, and in the 14th century he was officially recognized as the patron saint of England.
We are all accustomed to the Moscow coat of arms, to the image of St. George the Victorious on a horse, slaying a serpent. However, we do not think about its history, about where and when it came to Russia. It is worth saying that Saint George is a common Christian saint, revered in many other countries, for example, he is the patron saint of England. And foreigners are sometimes very surprised where it comes from - in Moscow, on the coat of arms of the city and even the country.
Officially, the coat of arms of the city of Moscow has existed since December 20, 1781. On this day it was “highly approved” along with the coats of arms of other cities of the Moscow province.
In the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, our capital's coat of arms is described as follows: “St. George on a horse against the same as in the middle of the state coat of arms, in a red field, striking with a copy of a black serpent.” It was also noted that the coat of arms is “old”. This meant that the emblem was previously known.
Indeed, the horseman slaying a dragon with a spear was used for several centuries as an integral part of the sovereign Russian coat of arms. That is, there was no coat of arms as such in ancient times, but there were seals and coins with similar images. The custom of placing a portrait of a prince on seals and coins, as well as an image of a saint whom the prince considered his patron, came to Rus' from Byzantium at the end of the 10th century .
At the beginning of the 11th century, an image of St. George appears on the coins and seals of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who took the name Yuri (George). The founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky, continued this tradition. On his seal there is also a saint, standing at full height and drawing a sword from its sheath. The image of St. George was on the seals of Yuri Dolgoruky’s brother Mstislav, the serpent warrior was present on numerous seals of Alexander Nevsky, and he is found on the coins of Ivan II the Red and Dmitry Donskoy’s son Vasily. And on the coins of Vasily II the Dark, the emblem of St. George takes on a form close to what was later established on the Moscow coat of arms. Saint George has been considered the patron saint of Moscow since the time of Dmitry Donskoy.
St. George the Victorious and the Serpent
The killing of the serpent (dragon) is one of the most famous posthumous miracles of St. George. According to legend, a serpent devastated the land of a pagan king in Beirut. As the legend says, when the lot fell to give the king’s daughter to be torn to pieces by the monster, George appeared on horseback and pierced the snake with a spear, saving the princess from death. The appearance of the saint contributed to the conversion of local residents to Christianity. This legend was often interpreted allegorically: the princess - the church, the snake - paganism. This is also seen as a victory over the devil - the “ancient serpent”.
There is a variant description of this miracle relating to the life of George. In it, the saint subdues the snake with prayer and the girl destined for sacrifice leads him to the city, where the inhabitants, seeing this miracle, accept Christianity, and George kills the snake with a sword.
Saint George on an icon of the second half of the 16th century, from Novgorod.
Veneration of St. George in other countries
This saint has become extremely popular since early Christianity. He suffered torment in Nicomedia, and soon he began to be revered in Phenicia, Palestine, and then throughout the east. In Rome in the 7th century there were already two churches in honor of him, and in Gaul he has been revered since the 5th century.
Saint George on the Georgian icon.
George is considered the patron saint of warriors, farmers and shepherds, and in some places - of travelers. In Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia, believers turn to him with prayers for rain. In Georgia, people turn to George with requests for protection from evil, for good luck in hunting, for the harvest and offspring of livestock, for healing from illnesses, and for childbearing. In Western Europe, it is believed that prayers to St. George (George, Jorge) help get rid of poisonous snakes and contagious diseases. Saint George is known to the Islamic peoples of Africa and the Middle East under the names Jirjis and al-Khadr. George is also the patron saint of Portugal, Genoa, Venice (together with Apostle Mark) and Barcelona. Well, and of course, England. Back in the 10th century, churches dedicated to St. were built in England. George, and in the 14th century he was officially recognized as the patron saint of England.
Coats of arms came to Rus' from Europe. Their closest relatives are ancestral totem signs. And the prototype of modern coats of arms were the symbols that in ancient times were depicted on military armor and banners. For example, a seahorse adorned the helmet of Alexander the Great. In ancient times, not only people had emblems, but also islands and cities. For example, the symbol of Athens was the owl. But usually such images were not passed on by inheritance, that is, they were not coats of arms in the usual sense.
The appearance of heraldry is associated with the beginning crusades in 1096. Then identification marks were required, visible at a great distance. They decided to put a cross on the shield and thereby divide it into parts. Then they began to divide the shield not only horizontally and vertically, but also diagonally, and the resulting segments were painted in different colors.
In the mid-12th century, influential military nobility in Europe began using coats of arms as personal insignia. The reason is simple: during battles and tournaments, the warrior’s face was hidden by a chain mail hood and helmet, and special signs were needed to distinguish the knights. And already at the end of the 12th century, women's coats of arms, coats of arms of clergy, townspeople, peasants, cities, corporations, states, provinces appeared.
The first Russian coats of arms.
In Rus', princely families also had decals. For the Vladimir-Suzdal princes, for example, it was an image of a lion, for the Yaroslavl princes - a bear. These family symbols were placed on seals; they were a sign of the main city of the principality. Abroad they were called Russian coats of arms, but, in fact, they were not yet coats of arms. If the coats of arms Western Europe amounted to strict rules heraldry, then Russian emblems did not follow these rules.
There was no word “coat of arms” in Rus'. It began to be used only at the end of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich. At that time, the country could no longer do without a coat of arms: negotiations with foreign powers required knowledge of heraldry. Therefore, in 1672, a handwritten “Titular Book” appeared with images of 33 coats of arms of the lands of what was then Russia. They were based on ancient city seals.
And in 1722, Peter I issued decrees on the creation of the Heraldry, the introduction of the post of master of arms and the appointment of a person to create coats of arms. Then the former “seals”, “banners” and “stamps” were officially called “coats of arms” and mandatory state symbols.
It was necessary to develop the state emblem, the coats of arms of kingdoms, provinces, and cities as soon as possible in order to transfer them to the banners of military units. Then Peter asked Jacob Bruce to find knowledgeable person. Bruce recommended the Piedmontese nobleman Count Francis Santi, an expert in heraldic sciences and an artist. He received the rank of colonel in the Russian service and on April 12, 1722, was enlisted in the Heraldry as a “comrade of the king of arms.”
Coat of arms of Moscow by Santi.
Despite the formal absence of coats of arms in Rus', Santi admitted that there are still coats of arms. In his work, he relied on existing seal emblems and images from the Titular Book. Some emblems were already designed according to the rules of heraldry: they had a stable tradition in their design and placement in a limited plane on the shield. But most of the coats of arms needed work.
Santi began with the state emblem. As a sample, he took a drawing of the state seal with a double-headed eagle and the emblem of Moscow on the chest, redrew the eagle, placed the emblem in a French shield (a quadrangle with a rounded-pointed bottom side) and brought the placement and coloring in accordance with the rules of European heraldry. But Santi admitted that Russian heraldry may have its own laws. For example, he adopted the typical position of the figures in a left heraldic turn (in heraldry, the sides are determined in relation to the one holding the shield), while Western European heraldry prescribes only a right turn (with the left side towards the viewer).
Santi enthusiastically worked on the creation of coats of arms, ordered literature on heraldry from abroad, compiled a heraldic dictionary, and requested information for the “composition” of coats of arms in Russian provinces. And in 1724, a decree was issued on the introduction of seals for provinces, provinces and cities, and the work on creating coats of arms went especially intensively. But in June 1727, Santi was accused of plotting against the young grandson of Peter I, Emperor Peter II. The accusation was false, but Santi remained in exile in Siberia for 15 years. Only Elizaveta Petrovna returned it.
The description of the coat of arms by Santi determines that the rider on it is St. George. But until the beginning of the 17th century, it was officially stated that the rider on the Moscow coat of arms is Grand Duke. At the same time, people said that the Moscow coat of arms depicts St. George the Victorious. And foreigners directly called the rider Saint George. Only under Peter I, George the Victorious was officially recognized as the Moscow coat of arms.
Our ancestors saw in the equestrian warrior-rider a symbol of our fatherland, and in the ominous snake - the defeated enemies of the Russian people. Unfortunately, this significant emblem, which later became the coat of arms of the capital, was subsequently subjected to gross distortion and then alterations. As a result, the warrior-rider turned into the mythical George the Victorious at the beginning of the 18th century. These changes to the ancient emblem occurred due to the fault of foreigners invited to serve in the Russian heraldic department, who did not understand Russian national symbols, but knew the legend about the fantastic feat of “Saint” George, who allegedly freed Princess Aya from the evil serpent.
In 1727, the Academy of Sciences and the German professor I.S. were obliged to engage in coat of arms creation. Bekenstein, a specialist in the field of jurisprudence. He tried to refuse this position, but in vain. Bekenstein was also tasked with preparing students to work in Heraldry, but even here, not everything went smoothly: only foreign students wanted to study heraldry.
Coat of arms of Moscow by von Enden.
Interest in city coats of arms arose again during the reign of Catherine II. After local government reform in the 1770s and 1780s, cities gained some autonomy in government, and coats of arms became a legal symbol, similar to the free cities of Western Europe.
At that time, Lieutenant Colonel I.I. served as “comrade of the herald master”. von Enden. Already existed a large number of city coats of arms, but he corrected some. He also updated the coat of arms of Moscow. The new coat of arms was approved on December 20, 1781. On the coat of arms of Santi, Saint George was depicted in Greek-Byzantine armor, covering only the chest and back. Enden dressed him in full armor from heels to crown, like a German knight of the 15th-16th centuries.
Although the coat of arms “composed” by von Enden was approved, they tried not to use it. And even the military order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George, introduced by Catherine II in 1769, retained the same image of the saint.
Coat of arms of Moscow by Kene.
In the 1850s, the German “scientific numismatist” in the Russian service, B.V., became the manager of the Armorial Department of the Department of Heraldry. Kene. It was he who turned the rider on the coat of arms of Moscow according to Western European rules. Therefore, from 1856 to 1917, St. George the Victorious was depicted on the coat of arms in an unnatural position: he was forced to throw away the bridle and, holding a spear with both hands, thrust from the left.
During the reign of Nicholas I and Alexander II, George the Victorious was depicted in Western European solid armor, and under Alexander III he was returned to his former antique appearance. And on February 23, 1883, the coat of arms of Moscow was approved as an element of the Great State Emblem.
On the chest of the eagle is the coat of arms of Moscow: in a scarlet shield with gold edges, the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George in silver armor and an azure cape (mantle), on a silver horse, covered with crimson cloth with gold fringe, slaying a golden one, with green wings, a golden dragon, with an eight-pointed cross on top, a spear.
In Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century, the official Moscow coat of arms was rarely and reluctantly used. But there was a lot works of art on his theme, more related not to the official coat of arms, but to the traditional iconographic image of St. George the Victorious. This, for example, is a bas-relief by V.M. Vasnetsov on the facade of the Tretyakov Gallery. And in 1919, the White movement tried to make St. George the state emblem of Russia.
The Soviet government destroyed the emblem Tsarist Russia, and on February 27, 1925, the Presidium of the Moscow City Council approved the new coat of arms of Moscow, designed by the architect D.N. Osipova.
The drawing of the approved coat of arms depicted on this sheet consists of the following elements:
a) In the central part, a five-pointed star is inscribed in the oval shield. This is the victorious symbol of the Red Army.
b) The obelisk against the backdrop of a star, which is the first revolutionary monument of the RSFSR in memory of the October Revolution (placed in front of the Mossovet building). This is a symbol of the strength of Soviet power.
c) The Hammer and Sickle is the emblem of the workers' and peasants' government.
d) The gear wheel and the associated rye ears, depicted along the oval of the shield, are a symbol of the connection between the city and the countryside, where the wheel with the inscription “RSFSR” defines industry, and the rye ears - Agriculture.
e) Below, on both sides, are emblems that characterize the most developed industry in the Moscow province: on the left, the anvil is the emblem of metalworking production, on the right, the shuttle is the emblem of textile production.
f) Below, above the inscription “Moscow Council of Workers, Peasants and Red Army Deputies” depicted on the ribbon, there is a “dynamo - the emblem of electrification.
Thus, in general, the coat of arms is a synthesis of the activities of the Moscow City Council.
This coat of arms of Moscow in the late 1920s and early 1930s was depicted on the seal of the Mossovet and printed on its publications. But by the end of the 1930s it fell out of use. Now the Soviet coat of arms is preserved on the facade of the building Supreme Court on Povarskaya Street and in the pattern of the fence of the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge across the Moscow River.
Khrushchev's “thaw” affected all aspects of life in the USSR. At the same time, interest in heraldry was revived. Articles about old coats of arms appeared in magazines. Amateurs began to compose new coats of arms for cities and towns that arose after the revolution, and to remake old coats of arms into modern style.
In 1964, the Main Architectural and Planning Department of the Moscow City Executive Committee announced an open competition for the coat of arms of Moscow. Of the 177 projects, the majority proposed coats of arms with new - socialist - symbols: the red star, the hammer and sickle, Ostankino TV tower, Lenin, a burning torch, a dove of peace, a rising sun and other similar emblems against the backdrop of the battlemented Kremlin wall. But at the same time, many projects included an image of a horseman similar to the pre-revolutionary coat of arms of Moscow. None of the projects satisfied the jury.
The question of the coat of arms of Moscow arose again in 1992. Moscow City Council deputy artist Konstantin Ivanov, on his own initiative, developed sketches and proposed, on their basis, to restore the old coat of arms with the image of St. George the Victorious. But this option was not approved and was criticized. Most often the artist was reproached for depicting St. George without a helmet. So the artist was forced to return to the “work” of Lieutenant Colonel von Enden.
Return of the coat of arms of Moscow.
On November 23, 1993, the Moscow Mayor issued an order “On the restoration of the historical coat of arms of the city of Moscow.”
And the canonical image of St. George the Victorious as a saint - with a halo - is on the Kremlin wall to the left of the Trinity Bridge. But why does the saint on the coat of arms look more like a warrior? Many associate this with the version that, in fact, the Moscow coat of arms depicts pagan god Perun. The legislation does not shed any light on this issue, since the mentioned image appears on the Moscow coat of arms as “St. George the Victorious,” and at the same time the law regulates depicting him as a knight, and in the coat of arms Russian Federation- as a “rider”.
The Life of the Holy Great Martyr George says that he was born in the second half of the 3rd century in Cappadocia, an Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire, into a noble family, and was a warrior. Having converted to Christianity, he distributed his property to the poor and went to preach. In 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian began persecuting Christians. George also fell into the hands of the executioners. They demanded that he renounce his faith, but he refused. Then George was executed. The great martyr began to be venerated first in the East, and then in the Christian countries of Europe.
Saint George became famous for many miracles, which his “Life” tells about. One of them is salvation from the serpent. Near a pagan city, a serpent settled in a cave. He kidnapped and killed the inhabitants, and in order to appease him, the inhabitants gave up their children. The turn has come the king's daughter: They dressed her in purple and led her to the cave. Saint George was driving by. Having learned about the girl’s grief, he entered into battle with the serpent. The serpent humbled himself and fell at George’s feet. The saint brought him to the city and cut off the serpent’s head in front of everyone. The townspeople were delighted and accepted Christianity.
In Rus' they learned about Saint George even before the adoption of Christianity. He was considered the patron saint of warriors and princes, so in 988 Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich was baptized under the name George. Yaroslav revered his heavenly patron and named the city of Yuryev after him, and also founded a monastery and church in Kyiv in his honor. Prince Yuri Dolgoruky founded the city of Yuryev-Polskaya in honor of his patron saint and built several churches. And Dmitry Donskoy, returning from the Battle of Kulikovo, in gratitude for the victory, founded a church in the name of St. George in the village of Kolomenskoye.
Do you have anything to add to the story about the history of the Moscow coat of arms?
Coat of arms of the capital of Russia
In 1993, the Moscow Government the coat of arms of the city of Moscow was approved in the form of a dark red shield with the image of St. George the Victorious in silver armor, striking a black serpent with a golden spear. What does the color scheme of the coat of arms mean? The color red means that we honor the memory of the soldiers who remained on the battlefield. Black dragon – forces of evil. Silver and gold colors of George's ammunition and weapons are success, superiority over the enemy.
From the history of the origin of the coat of arms of Moscow
History refutes the opinion that the image of St. George has always been on the coat of arms of Moscow. Let's consider the facts of the origin of the coat of arms. After the legendary Battle of Kulikovo, a secular horseman began to appear on the coat of arms of the Grand Dukes of Moscow, striking dragon spear. In the 16th-17th century and more early time Our ancestors perceived this image as the image of a sovereign. Associations about the similarity of the image of the horseman with St. George arose among overseas ambassadors visiting our country. The Russians eloquently argued that this was not the case. Each Russian sovereign approved a new coat of arms. The compositions and colors changed.
Since the 20s of the 18th century, the horseman began to be called Saint George. Tsar Peter the Great contributed to this. He made St. George the patron saint of the capital, listening to the reasoning of European men on heraldry. Essential change of coat of arms happened in 1883 - the rider was turned the other way. The knights wore a shield on their left hand, and the image of the warrior on the coat of arms began to look “in the face of the enemy.” After the 1917 revolution, the coat of arms was abolished. The new emblem was approved in 1924. In the center of the composition were depicted a star, a sickle and a hammer - symbols of the workers' and peasants' brotherhood.
Only on November 23, 1993, the ancient image of the coat of arms was returned to Moscow. Who was this warrior? St. George the Victorious, depicted on the coat of arms of Moscow? George came from a noble Greek family, was a member of military service the emperor, he himself was a Christian. When Emperor Diacletian declared persecution of Christians, George came to their defense. For this he was subjected to terrible trials. George prayed to the Lord to strengthen him and steadfastly endured all the trials. Then the priests and the crowd of people demanded the execution of George. On May 6, 303, his head was cut off. Since then, every year on May 6th the day of the Holy Great Martyr George is celebrated. The history of Moscow began with Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Yuri - translated from Greek means George. Maybe this is not a coincidence?
Numerous miracles associated with the image of St. George earned him the love and veneration of the Russian people.
The coat of arms of Moscow, which depicts a horseman slaying the black Serpent with a spear, has been seen by many. But what this means and signifies, few will answer.
Officially, Moscow received its coat of arms in 1781, when on December 20 it was approved by Catherine the Second along with the coats of arms of cities throughout the Moscow province and had the following description in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian State:
“Saint George on horseback, opposite the same as in the middle of the state emblem, in a red field, striking with a copy of the black serpent.”
It is worth noting that the document noted that the legalized coat of arms of Moscow is “old”, i.e. This emblem has been known for a long time.
Unfortunately, history Russian symbols has been revealed quite poorly and therefore we will have to turn to the surviving unclear evidence and material materials (sculptures, coins and seals).
The custom of putting the image of the prince, as well as the faces of the saints who patronized him, on coins and seals came to the Russian lands at the end of the 10th century from Byzantium.
Saint George first appeared on coins and seals at the beginning of the 11th century. This is associated with Prince Yaroslav the Wise, who after baptism took the name Yuri (otherwise known as George).
Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of the city of Moscow, became the successor of this tradition and put the image of the saint on his seal. St. George the Victorious was presented in full height, and his hand was taking out a sword from a sheath located on his belt.
A view close to the current image first appeared on coins from the time of Vasily II the Dark.
At the end of the 15th century, a horseman slaying a dragon with his spear was approved as a symbol of the Russian State. Evidence of this is the national seal of the times of Ivan III Vasilyevich.
A written account in which the first mention of a horseman piercing a dragon is found in the Ermolin Chronicle.
It notes that the sculptural image of St. George the Victorious was installed above entrance gate, located in . This happened in 1464. The image was installed by the architect Vasily Ermolin.
Some historians believe that this was the coat of arms of the ancient city of Moscow at that time, arguing for this by the location of the image on the main tower of the Kremlin and the fact that even princes who passed through the gates removed their hats in front of it.
But, most likely, the statue had only protective functions, because on back side two years later a bas-relief of St. Demetrius appeared on the tower. It was installed by the same architect Ermolin.
It is interesting to know that after the reconstruction of the Frolovskaya Tower, a sculptural image of St. George the Victorious was placed in the temple named after him as an icon (the religious building was located next to the tower), and instead of it, an icon of the Savior Almighty was installed. It was this event that served as the reason for renaming the structure - since then it has been the Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin.
Since the sixteenth century, state seals have been combined for the first time double headed eagle and a rider located on his chest. This composition remained unchanged for a number of centuries and became, in essence, the coat of arms of the state - the Russian Empire.
It is worth noting that the image of the horseman was periodically changed: either it resembled the features of the sovereign, or the horseman was turned to the left side, and not to the right we are accustomed to. And what is also important is that the “Moscow rider” (as they said then) was in no way associated with Saint George.
So in the inventory of 1666-1667, carried out in , about the coat of arms it is written: “In a circle there is a double-headed eagle, crowned with two crowns, and on his chest a king on a horse is stabbing a serpent with a spear.”
In the Titular Book of 1672, Saint George was generally presented as the coat of arms of the lands that belonged to the Georgian kings.
It will also be important to bring up the associations of the common people with the coat of arms that existed at that time. Here are just some of these sayings - “the king on a horse defeated the serpent,” “the king himself with a spear,” “our great sovereign on an argamak,” and “a man on a horse with a spear stabs a snake.”
Sigismund Herberstein, who visited Moscow as a diplomat in 1517 and 1526, describes state seal in his “Notes on Muscovy”:
“In the circle is a double-headed eagle, crowned with two crowns, and on his chest is a king on a horse stabbing a serpent with a spear.”
Tsar-Emperor Peter the Great first names the horseman “Saint Yegor.” In his papers, dating from the 18th century, and which describe his personal standard and the newly introduced naval flags, there is a description of the state coat of arms:
“This began from there, when Vladimir the monarch divided his empire into receipts for his 12 sons, from whom the Vladimir princes took this coat of arms of St. Yegor, but then Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, when the monarchy from his grandfather was collected again and was crowned, then an eagle for the coat of arms accepted the Russian Empire, and placed the princely coat of arms in his chest.”
Finally, St. George the Victorious was approved on the coat of arms as a horseman in connection with the development of heraldry in the Russian State, which implied the approval of city coats of arms, incl. and for Moscow.
The beginning of this event occurs during the reign of Peter the Great. It was then that a system of distributing army regiments in cities began to take shape. The military unit received the name of the settlement, and the emblem of the city was depicted on its battle banner.
Since 1712, regiments stationed in the city of Moscow used a double-headed eagle as an emblem with an image of three crowns on top and a shield on the chest, in the center of which was a horseman slaying a dragon with a spear.
By 1729-1730, the emblem on the banners had changed significantly: the eagle disappeared, and only a horseman with a crown remained on it, still piercing a snake with a spear.
St. George, being part of the coat of arms of the Russian Empire, soon became the coat of arms of Moscow, which was recognized in Peter's times as the historical center of Russia (the capital by that time had been moved to St. Petersburg).
Photo 2. Moscow coat of arms, approved in 1730 and 1883
The color design was developed in the Heraldry Office, to which Francis Santi, a Piedmontese nobleman, was invited as a consultant. Not without his direct participation, St. George the Victorious began to be depicted “on a white horse, the epancha and spear are yellow (golden), the crown (crown) is yellow, the serpent is black, the field is white all around, and red in the middle.”
In a decree dated 1781, which approves the coats of arms of Moscow and the cities of the Moscow province, the description of the Moscow symbol almost completely coincides with the description from 1730:
"Moscow. Saint George on horseback against the same as in the middle State emblem, in a red field, slaying a black serpent with a spear.”
In this form, the coat of arms of the city of Moscow remained unchanged until 1857, when, during the heraldic reforms, under Nicholas I, the Arms Department was created, which was assigned to the Department of Heraldry of the Senate. Baron B.V. was entrusted with leading the new department. Kene.
The planned work to change the coat of arms was approved by the emperor, and already on April 11, 1857, the description was published:
“On the chest of the eagle is the coat of arms of Moscow: in a scarlet shield with gold edges, the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George in silver armor and an azure cape (mantle), on a silver horse, covered with crimson cloth with gold fringe, striking a golden dragon with green wings with a golden, eight-pointed with a cross at the top, with a spear.”
The color of the cloak on the coat of arms of Moscow was most likely chosen azure (blue) in order to include in the attribute all the colors inherent in the state flag of the Russian Empire (horse - white, shield - red, cloak - blue). The horseman himself on the coat of arms is unusual: turned to the left, with a Western European helmet on his head.