Republic of Serbia
- Bearer
- Republic of Serbia
- Recommended
- 17 August 2004 (Recommendation of the National Assembly on the use of the coat of arms, flag and anthem)
- Adopted
- 19 May 2009 (Law on the Appearance and Use of the Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Serbia, “Official Gazette of the RS”, no. 36/2009)
- Original
- Government Decree establishing the master drawings of the Greater and Lesser Arms, the master drawing of the flag and the musical score of the anthem, November 2010.
- Authors
- Ernst Krahl (drawing of 1882), Ljubodrag Grujić and Dragomir Acović (master drawing of 2010)
- Official website
- srbija.gov.rs
The Republic of Serbia has Greater and Lesser Arms and a flag in two forms, the state flag and the national flag. The arms repeat the design of the Kingdom of Serbia drawn in 1882 by the Austrian heraldist Ernst Krahl: the National Assembly recommended them on 17 August 2004, and under the Law on the Appearance and Use of the Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem of 19 May 2009 they became the state arms in place of the emblem inherited from the socialist period.
After the law was adopted, master drawings of the Greater and Lesser Arms and of the flag were produced for the first time. The work was entrusted to the heraldist Ljubodrag Grujić, with the cooperation of Dragomir Acović, president of the Serbian Heraldry Society “White Eagle”, and the Government established them by decree in November 2010. The 2004 drawing is still found on the insignia of the Serbian Armed Forces, in identity cards and on certain state documents.
Blazon
On a red shield a silver double-headed eagle, armed gold, with gold tongues and legs, accompanied in base by two gold fleurs-de-lis. On the eagle's breast a red escutcheon with a silver cross between four firesteels of the same, their edges turned towards the upright limb of the cross.
Above the shield, a golden royal crown.
In the Greater Arms the shield rests on a mantle of purple lined with ermine, with gold fringes and cords, ensigned with the same crown.
The state flag is a tricolour of three horizontal fields of equal height — red, blue and white, from top to bottom — in the proportion 3:2, with the Lesser Arms, whose centre is shifted towards the hoist by one seventh of the length of the flag. The national flag is the same tricolour without the arms.
Symbolism and meaning
The double-headed eagle comes from the royal heraldry of the Nemanjić dynasty, and the cross with four firesteels is the most recognisable Serbian heraldic device, known since the late Middle Ages. The fleurs-de-lis in the base of the shield are taken from the arms of the Kingdom of Serbia. The colours of the flag follow the tricolour that has been used as the national flag since 1835.
The master drawing of 2010 brought several noticeable changes to the artwork: the firesteels were given the shape of the Cyrillic letter С, the eagle's plumage was drawn more clearly and with less detail, and the eagle's tongue was shaped in the spirit of Serbian heraldry.