The coat of arms of the state is not just a beautiful drawing - its image, as a rule, contains all the symbols of the country's internal structure: priorities, politics and even warnings.
Coat of arms of the Russian state
The history of the coat of arms of Russia goes back to the reign of Ivan III. It was then, in 1497, that the image of an eagle with two heads first appeared on the royal seal. After it underwent various changes, and as a result, by 1917, the coat of arms of Russia was overgrown with symbols, each of which had its own meaning:
- The double-headed eagle, looking in different directions, suggests that Russia combines all the best that is inherent in the West and the East, being the golden mean between the two cultures.
- The warrior sitting on a horse with a spear - George the Victorious - a symbol of the fact that the Fatherland is protected and can always defeat the encroaching evil.
- Three crowns mean the independence of Russia.
- The scepter and the orb are the unity of a state ruled by state power.
That is, all the symbols included in the coat of arms,spoke about the fact that the country to which he belongs is a multinational, powerful, sovereign power capable of protecting its people.
But it was until 1917, when there was a turn in the history of the Russian state.
New government - other symbols
As a result of the February revolution that took place in Russia in 1917, the reign of the monarchy came to an end. Power over the country passed into the hands of the so-called Provisional Government, headed by Prince G. E. Lvov. From now on, the future fate and path of Russia was to be determined by the Constituent Assembly. The power has changed, which means that the old symbols in a changing country no longer had a place. Nevertheless, all important documents had to be sealed with the state seal. Already in March, requests were sent to the Provisional Government from various institutions and departments of the country with a request to clarify what kind of real state government should be. seal confirming the authenticity of documents.
In connection with this, a special meeting was convened, and under it a special commission on arts, headed by A. M. Gorky, was created. Gorky, in turn, attracted artists from the World of Arts and well-known heraldists to work.
The result of their joint work was a sketch made by I. Ya. Bilibin, which, after some discussion, was adopted as a temporary emblem for the state seal. The sample was still the same double-headed eagle, however, devoid of all the paraphernalia, which was considered symbols inherent in tsarism and inappropriate for the new time.
This emblem, which adorned the state. the seal, in fact, was the coat of arms of the Provisional Government, but the question of giving it state status remained open.
New time - new coat of arms
After a sample of the new seal was publicly presented to the public, a wave of protests swept across the country demanding the eradication of the old "royal" paraphernalia still used in everyday life. The country needed a different national emblem.
The question of the new symbol was raised several times at the Legal Conference, which is gathering under the Provisional Government. In the end, the image of the eagle in the new version was recognized as possible for use as a state symbol. However, the final decision on exactly how the coat of arms of the Provisional Government would look like was postponed until the future Constituent Assembly. Nevertheless, the new leadership of the country already considered the “naked” eagle to be “their” new symbol. His image appeared on the new paper banknotes.
Temporary emblem on temporary money
Paper money issued under the new government looked pretty interesting.
They depicted the emblem of the Provisional Government - a double-headed eagle against the background of a swastika, which at that time was not yet considered a sign of fascism. The swastika ("Running Cross") was considered a solar (solar) sign, symbolizing eternity, the path to prosperity and progress. Apparently, exactlytherefore, it began to be used by the Provisional Government in conjunction with the eagle as a symbol of Russia's victory over the oppression of the monarchy. However, there was no official explanation of what the new state symbol means. The coat of arms of the Provisional Government of the sample of 1917, in fact, remained only an emblem.
In the summer of 1918, the already formed Soviet government decided to finally eradicate the old symbols. The new Constitution adopted at that time determined that the coat of arms of the state would henceforth symbolize only the political symbols of the new ruling party. The coat of arms of the Provisional Government replaced the coat of arms of the RSFSR.
Why is the coat of arms of the Provisional Government on the money
In 1991, the USSR collapsed. Again in the history of our country, transitional times came when the old Soviet symbols were no longer relevant, and new ones had not yet appeared.
In 1992, the Bank of Russia began minting coins with an emblem very similar to the coat of arms of the Provisional Government of 1917.
And this happened because at that time the state symbols approved by the government of the country simply did not exist. Therefore, the Bank of Russia decided to use its emblem on money, which, according to Alexander Yurov, who is the director of the Central Bank's cash circulation department, has nothing to do with the Provisional Government and its symbols. And he explained the similarity of the two emblems by the fact that they were indeed made by the same artist - I. Bilibin. Only the emblem of the Central Bankborrowed from Russian fairy tales, in the design of the books of which this artist took part.
2016 was marked by the fact that a full-fledged coat of arms of Russia returned to domestic banknotes.
