Thecoat of arms of the city ofLviv features a golden lion beneath a city gate in a blue field. The current version of the symbol was adopted by the city council in 1990. Based on the principles of theblazoning it features a lion passant Or, beneath a castle gate Or, in an azure field.

Coat of arms of Lviv
Versions
Armiger	Lviv
Adopted	5 July 1990
Shield	Azure, beneath a castle gate alion passant, allOr.

The lion was a traditional symbol of the city throughout the ages. The first such depictions occurred on 13th-century seals of dukesAndrew andLeo of Volhynia, rulers of medievalRuthenian duchy ofHalych-Volynia. The earliest known emblem of the city features alion passant through a city gate pointed with three towers. It was featured on a city council seals, used by the magistrate in 1359 and later.

In 1526 Polish kingSigismund the Old of Poland formally accepted the coat of arms. To underline that the city belongs to the crown, a royal crown was added in the coronet. In later ages, although the colours and shapes of all thecharges varied, their number remained the same. In 1586 bishopJan Dymitr Solikowski, royal diplomat and a bishop of Lwów, as the city was then called, was accepted on an audience by thePope Sixtus V. In the effect, the city was granted with a privilege of adding the papal coat of arms to its own. Thus the shape of the lion was modified. The lion passant was replaced with alion rampant, with the papal emblem (three helmets and an 8-pointed star) in one of the legs. During thepartitions of Poland, after the city got annexed byAustria, on November 6, 1789, the coat of arms was again confirmed by the highest authorities - this time by EmperorJoseph II of Austria.

During theGalician period the city emblem remained unchanged. After thePolish-Bolshevik War of 1919-1920, the city became once again a part of Poland. After thePolish-Ukrainian War of 1918, the city was awarded with theVirtuti Militari medal, the highest Polish military decoration. Since 1936, the medal was also featured in the emblem's compartment. In addition, the city's mottosemper fidelis was also featured.

AfterWorld War II the city was annexed bySoviet Union. On July 15, 1967, a new, simplified coat of arms was approved by the Soviet authorities. It featured a lion rampant Or, below a three-towered city gate proper, with ahammer and sickle in the centre Or, on azure.

AfterUkraine declared independence, on 5 July 1990 the city council passed a new coat of arms, modelled after the initial emblem from the times of Ruthenia. The new coat of arms was designed byAndriy Grechylo, Ivan Svarnyk, Ivan and Volodymyr Turetskyi.

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  Seal of Lviv City (14th century)
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  Coat of arms, from the View of Lviv, designed by Abraham Hogenberg (1618)
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  Historical coat of arms, used during theAustrian period (1789-1918)
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  Historical coat of arms, used during thePolish period (1936-1939)
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  Historical coat of arms, used during theSoviet period (1967-1990)

• Grechylo A. Herb Lvova: geneza, tradytsiyi, vidrodzhennya. In: Istoriya Lvova. Vol. 1 (1256-1772), p. 38-44. Lviv, 2006. (Coat of arms of Lviv: origins, traditions, revival. In: History of Lviv, vol. 1)
• Grechylo A. Pechatky mista Lvova XIV-ХVІІI st. (Seals of Lviv City (14th-18th c.)) Lviv, 2010.ISBN 978-966-02-5837-2