Description
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The shield surmounting the eagle is divided in five fields, one for each historical province of Romania with its traditional symbol:
- golden aquila - Muntenia
- aurochs - Moldavia
- dolphins - Dobrogea
- a black aquila, seven castles, a sun and a moon - Transylvania
- lion and a bridge - Oltenia and Banat
Romania’s coat of arms has as a central element the golden aquila holding an Orthodox cross. Traditionally, this eagle appears in the arms of the Argeş county, the town of Piteşti and the town of Curtea de Argeş. It stands for the “nest of the Basarabs”, the nucleus around which Wallachia was organised.
The aquila, being the symbol of Latinity and a heraldic bird of the first order, symbolises courage, determination, the soaring toward great heights, power, grandeur. It is to be found also in Transylvania’s coat of arms.
The shield on which it is placed is azure, symbolising the sky. The eagle holds in its talons the insignia of sovereignty: a mace and a sword, the latter reminding of Moldavia’s ruler, Stephen the Great whereas the mace reminds of Michael the Brave, the first unifier of the Romanian Countries. On the bird’s chest there is a quartered escutcheon with the symbols of the historical Romanian provinces (Muntenia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Banat, Crisana, Maramures, Basarabia, Dobrogea and Oltenia) as well as two dolphins reminding of the country’s Black Sea Coast.
In the first quarter, Muntenia’s coat of arms, an aquila or holding in its beak a golden Orthodox cross, accompanied by a golden sun on the right and a golden new moon on the left, is displayed against an azure background.
In the second quarter, Moldavia’s traditional coat of arms is shown, gules: an auroch head sable with a mullet of or between its horns, a cinquefoil rose on the dexter and a waning crescent on the sinister, both argent.
The third quarter features the traditional coat of arms of Banat and Oltenia, gules: over waves, a golden bridge with two arched openings (symbolising Roman emperor Trajan’s bridge over the Danube), wherefrom comes a golden lion holding a broadsword in its right forepaw.
The fourth quarter shows the coat of arms of Transylvania, Maramureş and Crişana: a shield parted by a narrow fesse, gules; in the chief, on azure, there is a black aquila with golden beak coming out of the fesse, accompanied by a golden sun on the dexter and a crescent argent on the sinister (symbolizing the Székelys); on the base, on or, there are seven crenellated towers, placed four and three (symbolizing the Saxons).
Also represented are the lands adjacent to the Black Sea (Dobrogea), on azure: two dolphins affronts, head down.
Read more about this topic: Coat Of Arms Of Romania
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