Georgian heraldry was largely suppressed during the Soviet era, but afterGeorgia's independence, it has been revived. It draws inspiration from Asian and Western European heraldic traditions as well as its own.
Since 2008, Georgia has theState Council of Heraldry under the national parliament.[1]
One of the earliest pieces of heraldry known to be associated with Georgia was designed in the 15th century for theKingdom of Georgia.[2]Conrad Grünenberg, in his armorial, described several Georgian arms, including those for West Georgia andAbkhazia.
The coat of arms of theBagrationi dynasty was considered to be a state coat of arms of Georgia. The designs ran with the image ofDavid, from whom the Bagrationisclaimed lineage.
Heraldry in Georgia was further developed byPrince Vakhushtiof Kartli. In his “Atlas of Georgia”, a geographical work on theCaucasus, he used several early coats of arms for Georgia. Historians today use it not just as a geographical work but also as anarmorial due to its signficant heraldic content. He used various existing symbols of Georgia, such asSaint George, but this was the first timeArchangel Michael had been used as a symbol of Georgia.
In the eighteenth century, the court ofHeraclius II, king ofKakheti, and later Qartli and Kakheti. He had a great interest in westernising Georgia, which included introduction of flags and coats of arms of family and country. He used the great royal seal to ratify theTreaty of Georgievsk with theRussian Empire in 1783, which made early use of the Georgian crown as a symbol. Erekle II's older seal, from 1746, was at the time original, though now it contributes greatly towards the flag and coat of arms. It indeed has two lion supporters with a shield, and a Goergian crown atop it. It also has a cross, accompanied by four roundels, known as theJerusalem cross. It was adopted due to Georgia's adherence toEastern Orthodox Christianity. Modern Georgia adopted this as a flag based on the significant historical precedent as its use as a banner for Georgia.
Today, the Royal Heraldic college of Georgia is "entrusted withissuing, registering, and regulating armorial bearings and other heraldic matters."[3]
Georgian law describes the coat of arms as follows:[4]
The State coat of arms of Georgia is an heraldic shield, on its pupure field is depicted asilver rider on a silver horse and with a silver spear ending with agolden cross, Saint George with a golden halo, striking a silver dragon. The shield is crowned with the Iverian (Georgian) crown. The supporters are two golden lions, standing on a compartment of stylized grape vine ornament. The compartment is embellished with a silver-purple motto ribbon (face is silver, back is purple). On the silver field of the ribbon with black Mkhedruli letters is written the motto "ძალა ერთობაშია" ("Strength is in unity"). On the ribbon, in the beginning and the end of the inscription, are depicted purpure heraldic crosses.
The national flag of Georgia, as described in a decree:[5]
The Georgian national flag is a white rectangle, with a large red cross in its central portion touching all four sides of the flag. In the four corners there are fourbolnur-katskhuri crosses (also referred to as a Georgian Cross or aGrapevine cross) of the same color as the large cross.
The current flag was used by the Georgian patriotic movement following the country's independence from theSoviet Union in 1991. By the late 1990s, the design had become widely known as the Georgian historical national flag, asvexillologists had pointed out the red-on-whiteJerusalem cross shown as the flag ofTbilisi in a 14th-century map byDomenico and Francesco Pizzigano.[6][7]
