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imagefrom <lrv.lt>
Coat of Arms adopted 20 September 1991.
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Fromnerissite:
The State Emblem - The state emblem of the Republic ofLithuania is the Vytis (the White Knight). The heraldic shieldfeatures a red field with an armoured knight on a white (silver)horse holding a silver sword in his right hang above his head. Ablue shield hangs on the left shoulder of the charging knightwith a double gold (yellow) cross on it. The horse saddle,straps, and belts are blue. The hilt of the sword and thefastening of the sheath, the charging knight's spurs, the curbbits of the bridle, the horseshoes, as well as the decoration ofthe harness, are gold.
The charging knight is known to have been first used as the stateemblem in 1366. It is featured on the seal of the Grand Duke ofLithuania, Algirdas, which marks a document belonging to thatyear. The old prototype of the present Vytis depicts a knight onhorseback holding a sword in his raised hand. The symbol of thecharging knight on horseback was handed down through thegenerations: from Algirdas to his son, Grand Duke Jogaila, thento Grand Duke Vytautas and others. By the 14th century, thecharging knight on horseback with a sword had begun to befeatured in a heraldic shield, first in Jogaila's seal in 1386 or1387, and also in the seal of Vytautas in 1401. As early as the15th century, the heraldic charging knight on horseback becamethe coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and of itscentral part - the Duchy of Vilnius. 16th century documents referto it as Vytis (it is believed that the word Vytis was used inthe 15th century). At first, the charging knight was depictedriding in one or the other direction and sometime held a lance.But as of the first half of the 15th century, he is always shownriding to the left (as see by the viewer) with a sword in hisraised hand and a shield in the left hand.
In the 15th century, the colours of the seal became uniform. Thelivery colours became fixed: a white (silver) charging knight ona red field of the heraldic shield. The shield of the chargingknight was blue then and set against the blue field was a double(gold) cross. The coat of arms featured the grand duke's headgearon the crest.
A first, the charging knight showed the figure of the ruler ofthe country, but with time it came to be understood andinterpreted as that of a riding knight who was chasing anintruder out of his native country. Such an understanding wasespecially popular in the 19th century and the first half of 20thcentury. The explanation has a sound historical foundation. It isknown that at the Zalgiris (Grunwald) battle, where the unitedPolish-Lithuanian army crushed the army of the German Order, thusputting an end to its expansion to the east, thirty Lithuanianregiments out of the total forty were flying with the sign of theVytis.
With minor stylistic changes, the Vytis coat of arms remained thestate symbol of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1795. When theLithuanian - Polish Commonwealth was formed in 1569, the Vytiswas featured on the state emblem alongside the Polish Eagle. Astime went by, the Vytis gained popularity and constituted part ofthe coat of arms of most provinces and towns. It was widely usedin public life during festive ceremonies and so on. The Vytissign on the Ausros vartai (Ausros Gate) in the 16th centurydefence wall of Vilnius, surviving to this day, was to signifythat Vilnius was the capital of Lithuania. The Byelorussians alsoconsider the Vytis to be their national emblem.
When Lithuania was annexed by Russian Empire in 1795, the Vytiswas incorporated into the imperial state emblem. Slightlymodified in 1845, it was used as the coat of arms of the city andprovince of Vilnius. While restoring the independent Lithuanianstate in 1918-19, due care was taken to restore the state emblemtoo. A special commission was set up to analyse the best 16thcentury specimens of Vytis to design a state emblem. Only thecrest with the grand duke's headgear was rejected. The Vytis wasthe state emblem of the Republic of Lithuania until 1940. When onJune 15, 1940 Lithuania was occupied and annexed by the SovietUnion, the symbol of the Vytis came to be viewed as hostile tothe new authorities and its portrayal was punishable (duringStalin's rule this could mean imprisonment or even deportation).It was only in 1988, when a revival movement began in Lithuania,that the Vytis was again legalized as a national symbol. As ofMarch 11, 1990 the Vytis is once again the official state emblemand symbol of the Republic of Lithuania. On April 10, 1990 theSupreme Council of Republic of Lithuania approved the descriptionof the state emblem and determined the principal regulations forits use. On September 4, 1991, the old colours of the Vytis sealwere re-established.
Jarig Bakker, 2 October 1999
The Pursuit, as it is sometimes called, is perhaps the oldestemblem of Lithuania, figuring in many ancient symbols and havingbeen the principal emblem on the obverse of the State Flag (1919or 20 - 1940) and on the emblems of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom
Dave Martucci, 2 October 1999
FromThe Heraldry of Lithuania, Vol. 1, Vilnius 1998:
"The Lithuanian State Coat of Arms
Description - A mounted knight in silver armour, holding a raisedsilver sword with a golden hilt above his head, on a field ofred. At his left shoulder, the knight carries a blue shieldcharged with a golden double cross. The horse's bridle, leatherbands, saddle and short saddle-cloth are blue, its horseshoes,bit, stirrup, metal buckles, and the rider's spur are golden.
Overview - Lithuania's knight, called the Vytis, is one of theoldest State emblems in Europe and one of the few whose symbolismwas taken not from dynastic arms, as in the majority of Europeancountries, but from ducal portrait seals. It was not by chancethat in the beginning of the 16th C., a chronicler describedLithuania's coat of arms as indicating a mature ruler capable ofdefending his Homeland by the sword.
In the Middle Ages, the image of the mounted ruler knight wasperhaps the most favoured symbol for seals. It represented boththe sovereignty of the land, and its defender. One can find agreat many such seals in neighbouring countries. In Lithuania,the earliest knight was depicted on the 1366 seal of Grand DukeAlgirdas; it has not survived. Circa 1385-1386, when JogailaAlgirdaitis (son of Algirdas) made the knight a heraldic figure,using him as a motif on a shield, the personal portrait of theruler acquired a common meaning. In the beginning, the knightsymbolized the State's most important Duchy of Vilnius, and wasdepicted holding a lance: whoever ruled Vilnius also governed theentire country. Circa 1382-1384, aspiring to govern, DukeVytautas of Trakai, Jogaila's cousin, had replaced the standingwarrior, a lower rank image used on seals up to that time, withthe mounted knight. It was in fact during the rule of Vytautas(1392-1430) that the mounted knight became the emblem not only ofVilnius, but of the entire State - the powerful Grand Duchy ofLithuania -which Vytautas had created. This is seen very clearlyin the throne seal of Vytautas, which appeared at the beginningof the 15th C. Surrounded by the arms of the territoriesbelonging to him, in one hand the ruler holds the sword,symbolizing ducal authority, and in the other - a shield chargedwith the knight, thereby symbolizing the State of Lithuania(knight with sword), in the same way that the sovereign globerepresents the king.
One can only surmise why the portrait of the ruler, and not thedouble cross of Jogaila or the Columns of the family of Gediminasbecame the State symbol. First of all, it must be remembered thatthe coat of arms of the ruler, and later of the State, hadinternational significance, and needed to be clear and understoodby all. At that time, the heraldry of European States wasdominated by totally different symbols, ones borrowed from theworld of flora and fauna.
The king of beasts - the lion, of birds - the eagle, the queen offlora- the lily, represented emperors, kings, dukes, and theStates which they ruled. Such devices had clearly definedmeanings. The lion indicated strength, noble-heartedness, andwrath, the eagle courage, a sharp mind, and insight, and the lilybeauty and majesty. Compared to the lineal heraldry of theColumns of the family of Gediminas, or even the double cross,these arms were much more expressive and comprehensible.Secondly, at the time when Lithuania's coat of arms was beingformed, its people had been fighting to the death for over ahundred years in an effort to preserve their Statehood. Warbecame the daily affair not only of the rulers, but of everyLithuanian in the land. The heaviest burden lay on the warriorand his constant companion, his horse - both of whom wereextolled in folk song and legend. Thus the mounted knight asdefender of the land was a clear sign to both locals andforeigners, and as a symbol perhaps best reflected the existingpolitical situation. Thus the portrait of the ruler and defenderof the country became the emblem of a State ready to determineits fate by the sword.
The colours and the composition of the coat of arms wereestablished in the beginning of the 15th C., if not somewhatearlier: the mounted knight in silver armour with sword raisedabove his head, on a field of red; a blue shield charged with agolden double cross, at his left shoulder (under the rule of theKestutis family - a red shield with the golden Columns of thefamily of Gediminas). The horse's bridle, leather bands and shortsaddle-cloth were coloured blue. Both metals and the two mostimportant emblem colours of the Middle Ages were used for thecoat of arms. Red at that time represented the materialistic, orearthly values of life, courage, and blood; blue signified thespiritual, or divine values of heaven, godly wisdom, andintelligence. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, when the jointState of Poland-Lithuania was formed, the early emblem coloursbegan to change, probably under the influence of the Polish coatof arms (red-white-yellow). Sometimes the horse's saddle-clothwas coloured red or purple, and the leather bands yellow. Onlythe knight's blue shield with its golden cross changed lessoften.
In Lithuania's early heraldry, the knight was usually depicted asif ready to leap to the defence. In the mid-15Ith C., afterLithuania's emblem acquired the name "Pogon, Pogonia,Pogonczyk" from Polish heraldry, the old image of thedefender of the land slowly became that of the knight pursuingand chasing the enemy. In the 17th C., in an attempt to find aLithuanian equivalent for the Polish "Pogonia",Konstantinas Sirvydas named the emblem "Waykimas",which is what it was mostly called throughout the 19th C. In 1885Jonas Basanavicius nicknamed the knight "Vaikas" (fromthe word "vaikyti" - to chase). The term"Vytis" appeared at the end of the 19th C. It was a newword, which had been created in the middle of the century bySimonas Daukantas. The honourable historian called Lithuania'snoble knights and horsemen - "vytis". It was perhapsMikalojus Akelaitis who had first baptized Lithuania's emblem,the "Vitis", in Ausra (Dawn), in 1884. Until the 1930sthe emblem was called "Vytis" from the word"vyti" (to chase, pursue - according to the Polishversion). Only later was its meaning traced to the word"vytis" (coined by Daukantas to represent the knight).
The Lithuanian coat of arms, which had represented the State formore than four centuries, was abolished in 1795, when Lithuaniacame under the rule of the Russian Empire for a period whichwould last for more than 100 years. True, the historic knight didnot disappear entirely. On April 6, 1845, Emperor Nicholas Iapproved the use of the knight for the coat of arms of theprovince of Vilnius. An armoured knight on a white horse wasdepicted galloping across green land, on a field of red. Theknight's silver shield was charged with a golden Orthodox cross.The horse's saddle-cloth was coloured violet and edged in gold.The green land disappeared from emblems created during the secondhalf of the century, and the Orthodox cross on the knight'sshield was coloured red; the saddle-cloth became longer andacquired three points - it, like the bridle and other leatherbands were coloured purple and edged in gold.
After the downfall of the Russian Empire during the First WorldWar, Lithuania proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the State onFebruary 16, 1918. The historic knight of the Grand Duchy ofLithuania once again took his place in the emblem of theLithuanian Republic. The first projects for the coat of arms weredesigned by Tadas Daugirdas and Antanas Zmuidzinavicius; devicesdrawn by Adomas Varnas, Adomas Galdikas, and other artists werealso used. The romanticized version created by A. Zmuidzinaviciuswas the most popular. Its prototype was undoubtedly a 1910drawing by Tadeusz Dmochowski, reminiscent of the coat of armsused during the last years of the province of Vilnius. Only T.Dmochowski depicted the knight more or less historically, whileA. Zmuidzinavicius made him look as if he was flying through theair. The horse also acquired a golden bridle, bands, and a longgolden saddle-cloth with three points. To further embellish thecoat of arms, the artist decorated the shield with a goldenbordure inset with heraldic stones, ornamentation which Lithuaniahad never used before. It was the Spaniards and the Portuguesewho were especially fond of bordures. Heraldic bordures usuallymeant a secondary, subordinate lineage, and were totallyinappropriate for the arms of a sovereign State.
The romantic coat of arms created by A. Zmuidzinavicius wascriticized, and a special Commission for the Establishment ofState Arms was formed in 1929. Its most active members were anarchaeologist, General Vladas Nagevicius, art critic PauliusGalaune, artist Mstislavas Dobuzinskis, historians Ignas Jonynasand Augustinas Janulaitis, and other known individuals. The worktook five years. M. Dobuzinskis created a project based on theiconography of Lithuania's ancient coins and seals, but did notsolve perhaps the most important question - the colours for thecoat of arms. The principal colours - the silver knight on afield of red - did survive, but the knight's shield was alsocoloured red, and the double cross, the horseshoes, the horse'sbridle and other accoutrements gold. As it was not clear how tojustify superimposing gold on a silver horse, reference was madeto the "golden bridles" and "goldenhorseshoes" of folk songs. The colours and the poorcomposition of the knight (with a great deal of empty red field)aside, the emblem created by M. Dobuzinskis was more archaic andbetter founded historically than the version by A.Zmuidzinavicius, which had been in use till then. However the newemblem was not officially confirmed. And the further developmentof State heraldry was suspended for half a century by the Sovietoccupation in 1940.
The Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania legalized thehistoric emblem of the State of Lithuania - the Vytis - on March11, 1990, the same day that it proclaimed the Act of Restorationof the Independent State of Lithuania. Soon after, on March 20,the first post-war composition of the Lithuanian State arms wasconfirmed. It was based on the sculptured image of the Vytis,which had been created for Lithuanian coins in 1925 by sculptorJuozas Zikaras. The colours of the coat of arms were laid down onApril 9: a mounted knight in silver armour, holding a raisedsilver sword above his head, and bearing on his left shoulder ared shield charged with a golden double cross, on a field of red.The sword hilt and the sheath braces, the knight's spur, thebridle bit, the horseshoes, bands, and their decorations were allgold. The colours were taken from the emblem created in 1934,although in fact the standard of the coloured coat of arms,confirmed by the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republicof Lithuania on May 17, depicted the shields in purple. This coatof arms became the symbol of the period of transition, and seemedto emphasize that the State of Lithuania would carry on itspre-war traditions. At the same time, the Lithuanian HeraldryCommission was assigned to prepare a more accurate version of thedevice, one based on historical and iconographic sources. OnSeptember 4, 1991, the Supreme Council confirmed the secondversion of the coat of arms, the one which is in use to this day.It differs from the preceding one in that it incorporates thehistorical colours and metals (red, blue, silver, gold) whichappeared back in the time of Lithuania's Grand Duke Vytautas. Thenew coat of arms also strives to embrace the original idea of theemblem, i.e. to depict a knight prepared to use the sword todefend his country and state. Restoring the idea of thehistorical colours and the ancient device meant that Lithuania isnot only inheriting and carrying on traditions from before thewar, but also those of the sovereignty of the Grand Duchy ofLithuania.
Besides the State emblem, the Vytis, two other historical symbolshave been widely used in public life from the end of the 14th C.to the present day: the double cross, and the Columns of thefamily of Gediminas. They were publicly acknowledged as nationalsymbols during the tenth session of the eleventh congress of theSupreme Council of the Lithuanian SSR, back in November 1988.
The double cross was the emblem of Lithuania's Grand PrinceJogaila, and later of the Jogaila family dynasty. The goldendouble cross (in an earlier period often with a longer lowertransom) is usually depicted on a field of azure. Since thesecond half of the 16th C. it has also sometimes been colouredsilver, has had cross-pieces of equal length, and has beendepicted on a field of red. The true origins of the double crosshave yet to be determined. What is clear is that Jogaila did notinherit this symbol from his father Algirdas, because the latterused an image reminiscent of two united arrows, superimposed witha cross. The double cross was known in the heraldry of Jogailafrom 1388, i.e. soon after the christening of Lithuania.Therefore it is thought that its symbolism is associated withthis event, which was important both to Jogaila and to the entirecountry. In a legend created about the double cross, it is saidthat Duke Sventaragis invited a prophetess from Nemunaitis tocome and explain the meaning of the 101 stones which wereinscribed with signs indicating good and bad years, and builtinto the pagan sanctuary. The prophetess said that when the yearof the double cross carne to pass, the sanctuary would bedemolished and the faith displaced. Not infrequently in WesternEuropean heraldry a similar cross represents baptism. It iscalled a patriarchal cross, or the cross of Lorraine, and is usedby archbishops. The double cross with its similar meaning, foundon the arms of Hungary, could have been the prototype for theLithuanian one. It was used both independently and on the shieldof the Lithuanian knight. In the beginning the double cross onthe State arms indicated the ruling dynasty. After the death in1572 of Sigismund Augustus, the last descendant of the male lineof the Jogaila family, the double cross was kept as part of thegreat, and later the small State seals. Having lost itsassociation with the dynasty, it began to be called simply theVytis cross.
After 1397, the Columns of the Gediminas family became the emblemfor Lithuania's Grand Duke Vytautas. It is thought that hisfather Kestutis, Duke of Trakai, may have already had a similarsymbol. After the death of Vytautas, his brother Sigismundus ofthe Kestutis family took it over. It was therefore called theemblem of the Kestutis family, and as of the 16th C., when theJogaila family also began to use it, it became the symbol of theentire Gediminas family dynasty. It was usually a golden shape ona field of red, though after the second half of the 16th C., itwas not infrequently coloured silver. This emblem has perhapsborne the most legends. In the 15th C. it did not yet have a nameand was, according to Jan Dlugosz, the sign of Vytautas, oftenused for branding horses, and to decorate military banners. Inthe beginning of the 16th C., the emblem was called the Columns,and was assigned to Palemonas, the legendary founder of theGediminas family dynasty, who had come to Lithuania from Italy.Later this symbol was associated with signs used by Tatars,Slavs, Scandinavians, and even the Japanese. What is clear isthat the so-called Columns did originate in Lithuania, forsimilar signs can be found even on the arms of nobles. Once theymay have represented posts, or gates with towers. TeodorasNarbutas christened this emblem the Columns of Gediminas in thefirst half of the 19th C., because it was thought that Grand DukeGediminas was the one who had started using them. During thefirst half of the 20th C. the emblem was referred to as a mastgate. Scholarly literature now uses the more neutral name, theColumns of the Gediminas family. The double cross and the Columnsof the Gediminas family became very widely used during the firsthalf of the 20th C., after the formation of the Independent Stateof Lithuania. They became the identifying emblem of theLithuanian army, police, airforce, and other State institutions.They embellished Lithuanian orders, medals, official insignia,and became the emblems of a great many public societies andorganizations. Their use, along with the State arms, was bannedin 1940. The historical symbols were resurrected with Lithuania'srebirth. In 1988 the Columns of the Gediminas family became themain emblem of the Lithuanian "Sajudis", the movementwhich brought the country to the point of its restoration as theState of Lithuania, and took on the role of the second Stateemblem. The double cross began to symbolize the restoredLithuanian police force. The historical designs were returned tothe Lithuanian army, airforce, navy, National Olympic Committee,and other State and public institutions. Once the personalsymbols of Lithuania's dukes, and later of dynasties, theseemblems gradually became the symbols of the entire Lithuaniannation, or national symbols."
Anon., 24 June 2003
See also: <jurix.jura.uni-sb.de/~serko/history/pahonia.html>
I've found some interesting bibliography on the coat of arms:
http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter/w5_show?p_r=4056&p_d=9978&p_k=1
http://www3.lrs.lt/pls/inter/w5_show?p_r=4056&p_d=17268&p_k=1
Esteban Rivera, 01 April 2015
pres.gif)
from <grybauskaite.lrp.lt>
The version with the griffin and unicorn is the coat of armsof the president, which appears onits flag.
Pascal Vagnat, 27 June 2003
fromSmolensksite located byDov Gutterman, 21 December 1998
This is a CoA of Great Lithuania to which Smolensk was addedat 1395
Michael B.Simakov, 21 December 1998