The coat of arms of Stary Oskol, as well as of any other city, is a symbol in which its historical features are displayed: economy, economy, the place it occupies in the state-administrative system, its history and even legends. What can we learn about Stary Oskol by looking at his coat of arms? We will talk about this in the article.
What cities of Russia had coats of arms?
Starting from the 18th century, Russian legislation enshrined the need to assign emblems to cities of great importance to the country. Coats of arms should have been not only in large provincial cities, but also in peripheral county districts located in southern Russia. The emblem emphasized the importance of the city, strengthened its status.
The fact is that in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the lands of southern Russia were borderline and protected the borders from attacks by nomadic tribes and Tatars. The border cities played the role of fortresses, and the male inhabitants made up their garrison. The coat of arms is a symbol that reflects the peaceful and military significance of the city for the country. This is a Russian outpost, but it is also the granary of the state. In the Belgorod region, five cities were immediately awarded this honor. The first thing is Belgorod itself, as well as Stary Oskol, Korocha, Valuyki and Biryuch.
The coat of arms of Stary Oskol is amazing. The city was founded by archers and Cossacks. Initially, it was a fortress, which was subsequently populated by migrant peasants. At that time it was called Oskol. After the New Oskol appeared in the province, the settlement received the modern name Stary Oskol, which until 1952 belonged to the Kursk region (province).
The original coat of arms of 1780
It was different from the modern one and consisted of a French shield, divided into three fields. In the upper part was the coat of arms of the Kursk province, which was a white and blue field, divided diagonally by a wide azure ribbon on which three birds (ducks) were depicted. The lower part was divided diagonally into two fields.
On the purple (top) was depicted a flintlock gun - a fusee, as a sign of the defender of the Russian land. On the lower field, emerald green, there was a golden plow as a sign of the cultivators.
The author of this coat of arms is the St. Petersburg heraldmeister A. A. Volkov. After its creation, it was approved by the highest decree of the Russian Tsarina Catherine II of 01/08/1780.
Coat of arms of the 19th century
It has a greater resemblance to the modern emblem. It also has a French shield diagonally divided into two fields. The upper is purple, and the lower is emerald. At the bottom is a golden plow, and at the top is a gun. In the upper left corner is the coat of arms of Kursk. The differences are a silver tower crown with three prongs and a frame of gold ears intertwined with the Alexander (scarlet) ribbon.
Description of the coat of arms of Stary Oskol (modern)
The modern heraldic sign of the city is created on the basis of the old. If you consider it carefully, you will notice changes and similarities. First of all, this concerns the sign located in the upper left corner of the shield. Today, the coat of arms of Belgorod is located here . Once upon a time, the heraldic sign of Kursk as a provincial city, which included Stary Oskol, flaunted instead. It was also located in the upper left.
The current emblem of Stary Oskol, like its predecessor, has two important parts: the French shield and the tower crown above it. Each element has a specific meaning, so we will consider them separately.
French shield
We will try to figure out what each symbol of the coat of arms of Stary Oskol means. It is worth recalling once again that the old coat of arms was carried out according to all the rules of heraldry. Therefore, each sign has its own meaning. Well, the new one practically copies it.
The shield is diagonally divided into two fields. They are painted in various colors. The upper field has a purple (scarlet) color, and the lower one is emerald green. They contain two symbols emphasizing the importance of the city. In the upper purple part, a gun is depicted as a sign of a fortified city. At the bottom (emerald) is a golden plow. This is a symbol of the peaceful city in which the warriors-farmers lived.
In the upper left corner, as we said, is the coat of arms of Belgorod. His shield has a blue field, where on a green base lies a golden lion, above which is a black eagle. He emphasizes the entry of Stary Oskol into the Belgorod region.
Tower crown
In the original emblem of Stary Oskol there was no tower crown, since such images were introduced only in 1857, after the approval of the reformed Rules for composing emblems, the revision of which was led by Baron B.V. Köne. The tower crowns were gold and silver in color, with varying numbers and shapes of battlements. They depended on the number of residents, the rank of the city, its historical significance.
After the innovation, a silver three-pronged crown rose above the emblem of Stary Oskol. As stated in the Rules, a silver tower crown with three prongs ante-black was intended for cities that had the status of county centers.
In the modern coat of arms of the city of Stary Oskol there is a golden tower crown, which has five teeth. There is no such crown in the Rules of 1857. There is only a golden tower crown, which has five prongs with three protrusions on each. Such a crown towered on the arms of provincial cities with a population of more than 50 thousand people. By the status of Stary Oskol, such a tower crown is not laid.
It is clear that the new emblem was approved in our time in early December 1995. Therefore, inconsistencies arise with the emblem of 1857, and in fact the crown does not mean anything, except for the number of inhabitants of the city, which is 223 thousand people.