The coat of arms of Carpatho-Ukraine is the official heraldic

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

Zakarpattia Oblast Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпатська область), also referred to as simply Zakarpattia (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Закарпаття; Hungarian language, Hungarian: ''Kárpátalja'') or Transcar ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The coat of arms was initially adopted on 30 March 1920 along with coat of arms of other lands of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

.Yevhen Siuch, Rostyslav Kasianenko.
A bear in Ukrainian heraldry. Part 1: a detective story about creation of a coat of arms of Zakarpattia (Ведмідь в українській геральдиці. Частина-1: детектив щодо створення герба Закарпаття)
'. Spravzhnia varta. 26 April 2019 The Ukrainian version of the arms was adopted on 18 December 1990 as a revived coat of arms by Hungarian graphic artist Janos Reiti. The flag of the Zakarpattia Oblast is a

Ukrainian flag The national flag of Ukraine (, ) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow. The blue and yellow bicolor flag was first seen during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg (Lviv), the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lo ...

defaced with the coat of arms of Carpathian Ukraine.

History

The coat of arms were created after the end of the First World War, when local councils of Eperjes, Ung, Huszt of the region of

Carpathian Ruthenia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

signed memorandum on leaving the

First Hungarian Republic The First Hungarian Republic (), until 21 March 1919 the Hungarian People's Republic (), was a short-lived unrecognized country, which quickly transformed into a small rump state due to the foreign and military policy of the doctrinaire pacifis ...

following Bolshevik coup-d'état led by

Béla Kun Béla Kun (, born Béla Kohn; 20 February 1886 – 29 August 1938) was a Hungarian communist revolutionary and politician who in 1919 governed the Hungarian Soviet Republic. After attending Franz Joseph University at Kolozsvár (today Cluj-N ...

and joining the newly created state of

as an autonomous land. The arms was designed by Gustav Friedrich, a head of heraldic commission of the Czechoslovak government. During negotiations with the central government in Prague as the representatives of Ruthenian political elite were not able to arrive to final conclusion, creation of the coat of arms was directed to specialists in heraldry in Prague. A technical task for development of emblem however anticipated, possibly, to consider wish of local political elite of the land. The Rusyn community firmly was standing on positions that were adopted back at the First Slavic Congress in Prague that took place during the 1848

Spring of Nations The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

about the use of "Pan-Slavic" colors: blue, white, and red, while the supporters of Uniate (Greek Catholic) clergy were standing on position of use blue-yellow colors. Therefore professor Gustav Friedrich presented a compromised decision. That is, by using the four main colors, to offer an emblem "with an image of a bear which earlier was depicted on coat of arms of

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

city". The arms is parted per pale show three gold bars on blue field in its first (

dexter Dexter may refer to: People * Dexter (given name) * Dexter (surname) * Dexter (singer), Brazilian rapper Marcos Fernandes de Omena (born 1973) * Famous Dex, also known as Dexter, American rapper Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born 1993) Places United ...

) field and a red bear rampant on silver in its second (sinister) field. In 1924 Czech professor Irži Kralj, a specialist of ethnography expressed his opinion that the bear is a symbol for the Carpathian wildlife (fauna). For sometime it was thought that professor Friedrich was mistaken about existence of bear in heraldry of

or its vicinities, yet in 1991 a Polish economist Andrzej Wociał who was interested in history of wars proposed a version that bear may have derived from old heraldry of Peter Petrovics coat of arms who was an overlord of Zemplin and Ung in the 14th century. There also was found an old seal from Ung county (megye) belonging to village of Kostrino which starts with inscriptions "Ung. M." and then another "Kostrina". On the Kostrino village seal is depicted a bear rampant. On the coat of arms of Bereg County is also depicted a bear rampant, but it is a bear rampant to sinister ("facing left"). The arms were also used by the short-lived state of

Carpatho-Ukraine Carpatho-Ukraine or Carpathian Ukraine (, ) was an autonomous region, within the Second Czechoslovak Republic, created in December 1938 and renamed from Subcarpathian Rus', whose full administrative and political autonomy had been confirmed by ...

in 1939, but with the addition of the

Ukrainian trident The coat of arms of Ukraine is a blue shield with a golden trident. It is colloquially known as the ''tryzub'' (, , ). The small coat of arms was officially adopted on 19 February 1992, while constitutional provisions exist for establishing ...

in the uppermost blue field, used previously by the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, as a result of the February Revolution, ...

. The idea of adding the seal of St. Volodymyr the Great came from Dr. Stefan Rosocha, a native of Maramoros. Since the territory is the same for the current Zakarpattia Oblast, the oblast uses the arms as its own.

Gallery

Coats of arms

File:Middle coat of arms of Czechoslovakia.svg, In the interwar years, the arms were part of the

coat of arms of Czechoslovakia The coat of arms of Czechoslovakia were changed many times during Czechoslovakia’s history, some alongside each other. This reflects the turbulent history of the country and a wish to use appropriate territorial coats of arms. In creation of Cz ...

File:Karptska Ukraina COA.svg, The coat of arms of

in 1939 File:Rusyn coat of arms.svg, The coat of arms of the

Rusyns Rusyns, also known as Carpatho-Rusyns, Carpatho-Russians, Ruthenians, or Rusnaks, are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group from the Carpathian Rus', Eastern Carpathians in Central Europe. They speak Rusyn language, Rusyn, an East Slavic lan ...

File:Герб русинів Хорватії.jpg, The coat of arms of Rusyns in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

File:Karpatska Ukraina-2 COA.svg, The coat of arms of the Zakarpattia Oblast, adopted in 1990

Flags

File:Flag of Transcarpathian Oblast.svg, The flag of the Zakarpattia Oblast is a

defaced with the coat of arms File:Flag of Rusyns 2007.svg, The flag of "Subcarpathian Ruthenia-Zakarpattia" ( Rusyn organization in Ukraine) with the coat of armsSubcarpathian Ruthenia-Zakarpattia requests again an autonomy (Підкарпатська Русь-Закарпаття знову вимагає автономії)
Zaxid. 22 June 2008

References

{{Ukrainian coats of arms Zakarpattia Oblast

Czechoslovakia