City of Belgrade

City of Beograd, Beogradski region

Bearer

City of Belgrade

Adopted

1931 (restored in 1991)

Authors

Đorđe Andrejević Kun (1931); Dragomir Acović (greater arms and their master drawing); the restoration of 1991 was prepared by a working group: Dragomir Acović, Mira Kun, Branko Miljuš and Tomislav Lakušić

Decision

Statute of the City of Belgrade (1991); the standards of the arms were published in the “Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade”, no. 14/96, and those of the flag in no. 8/97

Region

Belgrade Region

Eparchy

Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci

Official website

beograd.rs

The City of Belgrade uses arms in three levels — lesser, middle and greater — and a square banner. The arms were designed in 1931 by the painter Đorđe Andrejević Kun, and after the Second World War fell into oblivion; the City Assembly restored them in 1991 as part of the Statute, with three minor corrections. The standards of the arms and flag were produced by the Serbian Heraldry Society “White Eagle”, the greater arms and their master drawing being the work of Dragomir Acović, and the banner has been in use since 1995. The middle arms consist of the shield beneath a gold mural crown with a diadem, and in the greater arms the shield is borne on the breast of a white double-headed eagle, beneath which hang four decorations awarded to the city: the Legion of Honour (21 December 1920), the Czechoslovak War Cross (8 October 1925), the Order of the Star of Karađorđe with Swords (18 May 1939) and the Order of the People's Hero (20 October 1974). The right to use the greater ceremonial arms belongs to the mayor, who with them represents the city in official communication.

Blazon

Shield

A shield ending at the base in a slight point. On a blue field a silver masonry wall with an open gate, a tall tower in the centre and a smaller tower at each end; the lower part of the shield is red, with silver wavy rivers at the flanks, and across them sails a gold Roman trireme with silver sails.

Crown

A gold mural crown with a diadem set with precious stones; in the greater arms the crown has five visible crenellations.

Supporters

A silver double-headed eagle with wings displayed, crowned with a mural crown, bearing a shield on its breast and holding a sword in its right talon and an olive branch in its left.

Compartment

Beneath the eagle two gold oak branches with acorns, from which hang four decorations, and between them a small shield with the old arms of Belgrade.

Banner

A square flag, in the proportion 1:1, repeating the content of the shield: on blue a white wall with towers and an open gate, beneath it red ground between white wavy rivers and a yellow trireme with white sails.

Symbolism and meaning

The principles for the arms were laid down by a committee in 1931. The river represents the original strength of Belgrade, and the Roman trireme its antiquity. The wall denotes a trading city, the tower the city itself, and the open gate a free market. The red ground between the rivers and beneath the wall is a symbol of the blood and centuries of suffering of Belgrade, the white of the wall and tower recalls the name “White City”, and the blue sky expresses hope and faith in a better future; the rivers are white in keeping with the rules of heraldry. The colours of the arms are at the same time the state colours. On the mural crown of the greater arms the five crenellations denote a great city in the region, and the diadem a capital.

Earlier insignia

1555.Historical coat of arms

The oldest surviving depiction of the arms of Belgrade, from the time of Hungarian rule, is found in Fugger's armorial “Mirror of Honour” of 1555. The early arms of the city are known only from printed works and literature, and experts regard them as doubtful or as a misreading of Roman coins of the first century.

1725.Historical coat of arms

In the time of Austrian rule the Court War Council, at the proposal of Prince Alexander of Württemberg, adopted a new seal and arms for Belgrade.

1914.Proposed coat of arms

The draft law on municipalities of 1914 provided for new arms with national symbols, but there is no evidence that, owing to the events of the war, the law was ever adopted.

1931.Coat of arms and flag

On the initiative of the mayor, Milan Nešić, a broad committee was formed that included artists, heraldists, university professors, generals and state councillors. On 19 May 1931 the inner committee laid down the principles for the new arms, among them that the shield should have a slight point at the base. The competition was won convincingly by the sketch under the code “Red Three” by Đorđe Andrejević Kun, which, with minor changes proposed by the jury, was officially adopted and published in colour in “Beogradske opštinske novine”, no. 1/32. The flag with the new arms was flown at the celebration of Ascension Day, the day of Belgrade, and for the last time before 1995 it flew in 1932, in the Ascension Day procession.

1939.Historical depiction

The album of cards “Grbovi Jugoslavije”, published in Zagreb in 1939 by the company “Kava Hag d.d.” (Kaffee HAG), contains two arms of Belgrade. Card no. 37, marked as the “old arms”, shows a red shield with a silver wall and tower between two gold double crosses, and beneath them silver and red stripes; the same shield is found at the foot of the present greater arms. Card no. 38 shows the “new arms”, close to the present ones, but without the form of shield with a point at the base that the committee prescribed in 1931.

until 1991Earlier emblem

After the Second World War the city abandoned the arms and used only a device with no heraldic description: a stylised black-and-white depiction of a wall with three towers and a ship on waves beneath it.