History
A heraldic symbol for Bucharest was first used on seals of the town's jude and pârgari as early as the 16th century: it usually featured images of the Madonna and Child or the Annunciation, and was accompanied by an inscription in either Church Slavonic or Romanian, which simply read variations on the phrase "this is the seal of Bucharest".
Under the Organic Statute rule of Pavel Kiselyov, the city was awarded a new symbol, as the image of a standing woman wearing a shoulder sash and carrying the Scales of Justice (in 1862, the woman was represented as seated, and carrying both the Scales and, in her left hand, flowers and ears of wheat).
According to Constantin C. Giurescu, Cuza changed the seal to depict the patron saint and an image of the mythical shepherd Bucur; however, it appears that Saint Dimitrie Basarabov (or Saint Demetrius) was introduced as a symbol during his reign (in 1864 — as attested by Monitorul Oficial). The arms were expanded after World War I, when the mural crown and all other present-day elements were added, and the image of Bucur was dropped.
No symbol was in use during between 1948 and the administrative reforms carried out by the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. In 1970, a new coat of arms was adopted, which was official until the Romanian Revolution of 1989; it was meant to represent "the most characteristic elements of historical traditions and of political, economic, and social relations".
It was divided party per fess azure and gules fields, with an inescutcheon divided party per pale and charged with the crest of Communist Romania (hammer and sickle symbol of the Romanian Communist Party on red, dexter; flag of Romania, sinster). The top half of the field was landscaped charged with an or eagle wings displayed facing sinister, over the argent image of the Palace of the Patriarchate); the lower half was charged with the lower half of a cogwheel or and an open book with the or-lettered motto CIVITAS (dexter) and NOSTRA (sinister) - reading "Civitas Nostra" (Latin for "Our City").
Read more about this topic: Coat Of Arms Of Bucharest
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