Flag and coat of arms of Yaroslavl: photo, history and description

Most Russian state symbols have a complicated history. Russian autocrats - Peter the Great, Catherine II and others - periodically conducted companies to develop "brandbooks" for the country's largest cities, often without regard for local traditions. Heraldmasters from Germany, France and other countries were involved in the work, who simply used the plots and symbols from collections summarizing the European experience. The coat of arms of Yaroslavl, an ancient Russian city, has one of the oldest stories on the territory of the country, although there are ambiguities in it.

The capital of the Golden Ring of Russia

Long since, the Volga River plays an important role in the fate of Russia, embodying for many the soul of this country. The first Volga Christian city, mentioned in ancient chronicles, in particular in the "Tale of Bygone Years", was Yaroslavl. Today it is the largest among the ancient Russian cities that have become part of the famous "Golden Ring", and since its founding - at the turn of the X-XI centuries - Yaroslavl was used by Russian princes as a strong point of Christianization of the Volga region and the creation of a single ancient Russian state.

There are several local folk legends associated with the emergence of the city, with the name of its founder. The echoes of these legends also contain the coat of arms of Yaroslavl, although they were recorded much later, and their truth is often questioned by many historians.

Yaroslav the Wise

The 1010th is considered to be the foundation year of the city, and the prince who laid it down calls the son of Vladimir the First-Wise Saint Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise. He came from the clan of the Rurik and occupied the princely throne in Rostov and Novgorod, and was also the Grand Duke of Kiev. Yaroslav belongs to the rulers of the appanage princedoms, to which the Old Russian state was divided, who understood that only together can one resist the raids of nomads from the southern steppes. His reign in the capital of Kiev was marked by the appearance of the first set of laws - "Russian Truth". It became for the great Russian principality the most important sign of a single statehood.

The very name of the Volga city was formed on behalf of this ruler with the help of an ancient possessive suffix. Legend of the events that led to the coat of arms of Yaroslavl bear with a golden ax, was preserved in several editions: compact and more detailed.

Fight with a wild beast

A short version of Yaroslav's "bear story" told how during the military and missionary campaign of the prince, who then held the throne in Rostov, he found himself at the place where the Kotorosli River flowed into the Volga. The soldiers who accompanied the prince lingered in the impenetrable forest and Yaroslav went to the high Volga shore alone. Suddenly a huge bear appeared from the thicket and rushed to a man armed only with a battle ax.

When the guardsmen discovered their prince from the guards, they saw Yaroslav standing on the shore, and at his feet a huge beast, killed by an ax. In honor of his victory and miraculous salvation, Yaroslav ordered to erect a church in the name of the Prophet Elijah, with which the new city began, and the bear with a battle ax on his shoulder decorated the Yaroslavl coat of arms.

Bear's Corner

There was also a longer version. At the place of the confluence of Kotorosli in the Volga, there was a Finno-Ugric settlement under the name "Bear Corner". Once the inhabitants of this pagan town, distinguished by violent disposition and predatory habits, plundered a large commercial caravan floating on the Volga. Yaroslav with his retinue stepped up to the walls of Medvezhy Ugly, demanding that he be given to punish those guilty of such outrage.

Instead, pagans, who according to some scientists, professed an ancient bear cult, released the prince of these bloodthirsty beasts. But Yaroslav and his volunteers did not flinch and ran, but chopped this "savage" army with battle axes. The coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl with a bear is a tribute to this bright event in the history of the city that arose soon on the site of the legendary pagan settlement.

In the beginning there was a fish

Entering Yaroslavl in the first centralized Russian state took place around 1463 and was peaceful. Since that time the city is registered in the register of the possessions of the Grand Duke of All Russia.

The Great Sovereigns seal of Ivan IV, on which the arms of all territories included in the Moscow State were collected , became the first Russian heraldic work of such a volume. As Moscow joins new territories - Novgorod, Kazan, Siberia - the main seal of Ivan the Terrible changed.

Among the thirteen symbols depicted on the seal of the sample of 1583 and embodying all the possessions of the Russian Tsar, the coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl appears for the first time. Inside the circle formed by the inscription: "The seal of Yaroslavl" was depicted a fish with a head turned to the left. For a city standing on the bank of a big river, fishing was always an important part of the way of life of its inhabitants, but the full argumentation of the appearance of such variant of the Yaroslavl coat of arms was not preserved and in the future the main symbol of the city changed.

"Titular" by Alexei Mikhailovich

"The Grand Sovereign Book or the Root of Russian Tsars (" Tsar's Titular ") - a famous manuscript book, made in four copies (today known for three) - the main reference guide for heraldry, relating to the domestic and foreign policy of the Russian state of the XVII century.

In it, made in 1672, by unknown Russian masters under the guidance of the boyar Artamon Matveev, who was at the head of the Posolsky order, the bear - the coat of arms of Yaroslavl was first promulgated. The history of subsequent modifications of this emblem is associated with various types of combat weapons, which he holds in his paws. Specialists in ancient weapons identified several types of battle ax, relating to the stabbing and chopping cold polearm weapons.

Protazan, bertysh, ax

In the first known version, included in the "Titular", as the description reads - the coat of arms of Yaroslavl is a bear with protazan. This is the name of the piercing weapon, which is a double-edged, flat trident of a very special shape, fitted on a long handle. In Russian heraldry protazan meant belonging to the Rurikovich family.

Sometimes the heraldic weapon of the Yaroslavl bear is called a berdysh or a coin, but the common name, which is included in the description that the modern coat of arms and the Yaroslavl flag have - "a golden ax, on the same handle". In addition to the differences "in armament"

Heraldic reforms

By the end of the XVIII century, during the administrative reforms that have been carried out since the time of Peter and Catherine, the system of urban and namestnik symbols throughout the empire was subjected to processing. First of all, this concerned cities that belonged to the category of provincial centers. One of the first was the highest approved and put into practice the coat of arms and the flag of Yaroslavl. In 1730, the city coat of arms was agreed upon, on the basis of which seals for official papers, military banners and standards of regiments stationed in Yaroslavl, etc., were made.

An attempt to finally bring Russian heraldry to European standards and to a uniform style uniformity in the depiction of the most significant state symbols was undertaken by Alexander II. The development of the coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl and Yaroslavl province was entrusted, among others, to the prominent herald-master of the time, Bernard Vasilievich Kyon. First, the title coat of arms was adopted, which was part of the Great Emblem of the Empire. It was a silver shield, in it - a black bear on its hind legs, a head - straight, in the left paw - a golden ax.

The coat of arms, in which the shield was supplemented by the imperial crown crowning it, and framed by an oak wreath with the St. Andrew's ribbon was not officially approved by the highest decree for an unknown reason, although it was actively used as a city and provincial symbol until Soviet times.

Soviet time

After October 1917, together with other symbols of the monarchy, the coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl was withdrawn from official circulation. Photos related to the life of this region, referring to the years of Soviet power, however, show that the historical bear with the ax has not completely disappeared.

The Yaroslavl coat of arms had too much history to ignore him for the sake of ideological struggle and not be used in patriotic education. As the ancient coat of arms of Yaroslavl looks like, which means its filling, the city was known not only by historians, but also by every schoolboy.

Without the legendary beast it was impossible to do without the celebration of the round date - the 950th anniversary of the founding of the city, which was widely celebrated in 1960. Yaroslavl's coat of arms, his photo, were replicated in postage stamps and envelopes, in posters and albums, in the decoration of city streets and squares.

Current state

The next significant date - a thousand-year birthday - the city met, having already officially approved the flag and the coat of arms of Yaroslavl. Photo of the townspeople and numerous visitors of the city, made during the celebration, captured the diverse incarnations of the historical symbol. The bear with the ax met in the form of huge sculptures in squares and streets, it adorned ancient and modern facades of buildings, flowerbeds in gardens and parks.

The beast, which for many people is not only the symbol of one ancient Russian city, but of the whole country, flaunts on T-shirts of Yaroslavl and on hockey sweaters of Lokomotiv, not the last clubs in the domestic sport. He is familiar with the connoisseurs of the popular products of the Yaroslavl distillery and brewery and of course, to the numerous tourists traveling on the Golden Ring of Russia.

A Masterpiece of Modern Heraldmasters

What does the coat of arms of Yaroslavl and the Yaroslavl Region look like, introduced in 2002 in the State Heraldic Register of the Russian Federation? The full version of it - one of the best creations of domestic specialists in the field of state symbols. Like most similar attributes, it does not have a canonical pictorial solution, which is mandatory for execution. The main thing is that it fully corresponds to the description having legislative force:

In the golden shield there is a black rising bear, with its left paw holding a silver ax with a blade on its shoulder, with a blade upwards, planted on a red (cherry) shaft. The shield is crowned with a purple prince's cap with an ermine-in two rows of tails-with a fringe and three arches, of which two are decorated with pearls and the central with gems.

The shield is held: on the right is a gold-deer silver deer with golden mane and hoofs, with a gold collar decorated with semi-precious stones, to the left - a black bear on its guard - with a head in full-on - with a scarlet tongue and crowned with an imperial crown. Shchitoderzhateli stand on the patterned green foot.