The coat of arms of Ryazan is one of the oldest in Russian heraldry

Among the names of Russian cities there are names that sound the personification of the essence of the Russian state, its complex and long history. This is reflected in their symbolism. The coat of arms of Ryazan is one of the oldest in Russian heraldry, it has the value of a true historical artifact. His age is almost four centuries.

Horse walking

The Ryazan principality was one of the last to join the single state formed around Moscow. The history of the confrontation between the rulers of Ryazan and the surrounding rulers is full of examples of inexorable warlikeness, cunning and deceit. Only the father of Ivan the Terrible - Vasily III - won the right to add to his titles and the title of Grand Duke of Ryazan.

On the Great State Seal of Ivan IV (1577), among the coats of arms of cities, owned by the tsar of all Russia, was the Ryazan press. She portrayed a walking horse without a rider and bridle. This earliest coat of arms of Ryazan has always evoked different interpretations from different generations of historians. Some saw in it a symbol of closeness to the steppe expanses, from which the threat of cavalry of nomads proceeded, others embodied a wild, unsaddled horse, not galloping, but walking in step, with the suppression of the violent disposition of the Ryazan princes.

Throne of Mikhail Fedorovich

In the annals there were evidences of the active participation of the Ryazans in the battle on the Kulikovo field, about the distracting strike of Ryazan prince Oleg against the governor of Jagiyl, thanks to which the army of Mamai was not supported by the Lithuanians either. In the army, which liberated Moscow from the Poles, who tried to make Tsar Lzhedmitry, regiments consisting of Ryazan nobles were considered elite.

The militancy of the inhabitants of the steppe suburbs of Russia, who at one time considered both the steppe people, the Mordvins, Muscovites, and Kazan citizens to be their enemies, also took the coat of arms of Ryazan. A warrior with a drawn sword in his right hand first appeared as a symbol of the Ryazan principality after 1626, was embroidered on the veil of the back wall of the silver throne of the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty. Then there is a description of the Ryazan coat of arms in "The painting to all the sovereigns of the seals": "Man, in his right hand is a sword, under it is the earth". "Titular" by Alexei Mikhailovich (1672) also contains a similar image.

Warriors on all versions of the coat of arms differ in their pose, clothing, weapons, color scheme. The conformity of Russian state symbols to the single heraldic rules was first attempted by Peter I.

Francis Santi and Bernhard Köhne

In the Herald Chamber of Commerce, created by Peter in 1722, an important role was played by a connoisseur of rules for drawing up personal and state symbols, Count Santi, from Italy. Among other coats of arms, he created Ryazan. For the first time, a nationwide approach to the design and use of arms, excluding local initiative, is being implemented.

Catherine II carried out her administrative reform, which included the compilation and approval of symbols for cities in strict accordance with their status. But the final, imperial order in heraldry was imposed only under Alexander II. Great efforts for this were made by the prominent herald master B. Köhne. The emblem of the city of Ryazan received along with the decoration in the form of golden oak wreaths, twisted with scarlet ribbon, the right to crown the shield with the royal crown. The prince depicted on the coat of arms turned into a full face, received a certain graphic and color solution for his arms and clothing.

Historical coat of arms: oblivion and revival

In the Soviet era, the coat of arms of Ryazan, a model of 1856, considered to be historical, was not used in official practice - during official ceremonies and for the execution of city documents. At the same time, it was widely used in the production of souvenirs and printed products for tourists.

In August 1994, a new life of the urban symbols of Ryazan began. The official symbol of the city, created on the basis of the historical coat of arms, was approved. For many residents of Ryazan, this was a confirmation of the continuity of the traditions of the city, originating in deep antiquity, the special significance and persuasiveness of the symbol found in those distant times.

Creative reconstruction

The modern coat of arms of Ryazan, finally approved in 2002, was the result of the gradual development of the historical symbol of the city, taken as a basis.

For many historians important was the return of the first symbol of the city, which appeared on the princely seals, the walking horse. In 1997, the coat of arms of the Ryazan Region was adopted, in which the title coat of arms of the city was supplemented by shield holders - silver horses with a golden mane and a red mantle, lined with ermine.

The City Coat of Arms, on the recommendation of the Heraldic Commission, gained an additional element - the cap of Monomakh, which crowned the coat of arms of Ryazan, which means its status as a regional center directly subordinate to the capital center.

In 2001, he also received shield holders - a silver horse and a golden griffin, colored with scarlet lights. The shield began to surround the golden chain from the ceremonial sign of the head of the city.

In the same year, a contest was announced for the draft motto, and the city coat of arms was decorated with an inscription, inscribed in black letters on a golden ribbon: "A glorious history is a worthy future." Thus, the whole coat of arms of Ryazan was finally formed, the description of which was entered in the State Heraldic Register of the Russian Federation under the number 172.