The coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia () consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard that consists of 13 red and 12 white fields (called in blazon Chequy of twenty-five gules and argent). It is also informally known in Croatian as šahovnica ("chessboard", from šah, "chess"). The five smaller shields represent five different historical regions within Croatia. The checkerboard as a heraldic symbol of Croatia was introduced in the late 15th century, and officially since 1527 election in Cetin, replacing the original coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia.

Official description

Croatian law describes the coat of arms as follows:

However, after recent academic publications, some of the information should be changed. In that period, due to the Ladislaus of Naples selling of Dalmatia to Republic of Venice and Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, began disintegration of the Croatian lands because of which emerged separate coat of arms for Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia (but all of them representing in general the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia).

Croatian checkerboard

The size of the checkerboard ranges from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like in the current design. Throughout history, its initial field was mostly in white color and ending in red color, but existed also other examples, as until the 19th century didn't have official standardization and description. A Split stone baptistry from the time of Peter Krešimir IV (r. 1058–1074/5) has engraved falcons that carry something that resembles a checkerboard on their wings, and the bell tower of the medieval Church of St. Lucy, Jurandvor has a checkerboard pattern carved onto it. It was traditionally conjectured that the colors originally represented Red Croatia and White Croatia, but there is no historical evidence to support this as well.

Recently modern scholars are arguing that the Croatian checkerboard coat of arms (CoA) was probably created under the influence of the Habsburg dynasty, replacing the first CoA with leopard/lion heads (becoming attributed to the Dalmatia, meanwhile in Venetian Dalmatia was replaced by the Lion of Saint Mark and Chiesa dei Domenicani in Bolzano, Italy also from the late 15th century. There's possible analogies dating to 1426 of Swedish nobleman Heindrik Kristiernsson who served Ivan VI Frankopan, and 1491 of Senj nobleman Ludovik Perović at the Co-Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, Senj. It officially appeared on a seal from the Cetingrad Charter that confirmed the 1527 election of Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as new king of Croatia.

Towards the Late Middle Ages the distinction for the three crown lands (Croatia proper, Dalmatia, Slavonia) was made. The šahovnica was used as the coat of arms of Croatia proper & together with the shields of Slavonia and Dalmatia was often used to represent the whole of Croatia in Austria-Hungary. It was used as an unofficial coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia adopted in 1848 and as an official coat of arms of the post-1868 Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (both unofficially known as the Triune Kingdom). The two are the same except for the position of the šahovnica and Dalmatian coat of arms which are switched around & with different crowns used above the shield – the later employing St Stephen's crown (associated with Hungarian kings).

By late 19th century šahovnica had come to be considered a generally recognized symbol for Croats and Croatia and in 1919, it was included in the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) to represent Croats. When the Banovina of Croatia was formed, the šahovnica (checkerboard gules and argent) was retained as the official symbol.

The Ustaše regime which had ruled Croatia during the World War II superimposed their ideological symbol, the letter "U" above or around the šahovnica (upper left square white) as the official national symbol during their rule.

After the Second World War, the new Socialist Republic of Croatia became a part of the federal Second Yugoslavia. The šahovnica was included in the new socialist coat of arms. It was designed in the socialist tradition, including symbols like wheat for peasants and an anvil for workers, as well as a rising sun to symbolize a new morning and a red star for communism.

During the change to multiparty elections in Croatia (as part of the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe from the late 1980s), and prior to the establishment of the current design, the šahovnica, shedding the communist symbols that were the hallmark of Croatia in the second Yugoslavia, reappeared as a stand-alone symbol as both the 'upper left square red' and 'upper left square white' variants. The choice of 'upper left square red' or 'upper left square white' was often dictated by heraldic laws and aesthetic requirements.

The first-field-white variant was adopted by the Republic of Croatia and used briefly in 1990. According to constitutional changes which came into effect on 26 June 1990 the red star in the flag of SR Croatia was to be replaced by the "historical Croatian coat of arms with 25 red and white fields", without specifying order of fields. The first-field-white variant was used at the official flag hoisting ceremony on 25 July and was later occasionally used on par with the first-field-red variant until 21 December 1990 when the current coat of arms was officially adopted.

Current design

On 21 December 1990, the post-socialist government of Croatia, passed a law prescribing the design created by the painter and graphic artist Miroslav Šutej, under the aegis of a commission chaired by Nikša Stančić, then head of the Department of Croatian History at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb. The new design added the five crowning shields which represent Croatian historical coat of arms, out of which four regions of Croatia. They are, from left to right:

{| class="noresize" style="border:0;border-collapse:collapse"

|-

| center|90px

|

|

Central Croatia region – The considered the oldest known coat of arms representing Croatia: Bleu celeste, a mullet of six points Or surmounted above a crescent Argent – A golden six-pointed star (representing the morning star) over a silver crescent moon on a blue shield. The oldest example of the symbol is found on the obverse side of the Croatian Frizatiks minted by Andrew II as Duke of Croatia (Latin: Dux Croatiae). Such coins also had leopard/lion head or whole animal. It is common misconception that it represents the first and oldest known CoA representing Croatia, dating as such only since the 19th century national revival. The red-blue variant hails from the 1950s interpretation of the template (decorative) lines within the originally white lines of the original CoA.

|-

| center|90px

|

|

Dalmatia region – Coat of arms of Dalmatia: Bleu celeste, three leopards' heads affrontés caboshed Or, crowned Or – Three golden, crowned heraldic leopard heads, two over one, on a blue shield. The depicted version from the crown differs from the traditional depiction of these arms: traditionally, the leopards are roaring and langued (i.e. with tongues visible), and the color of the shield is heraldic azure, not bleu celeste. Historically, this is the first and oldest coat of arms representing Kingdom of Croatia (and Dalmatia), and in use since at least the 13th century. Albert II, John Zápolya, Ferdinand I, and from then on various seals and arms of the Habsburgs. Originally the coat of arms was three lion heads on red background, turned to left.

|-

| center|90px

|

|

Istria region – Coat of arms of Istria: Azure, a goat (buck goat) statant Or, attired and hoofed Gules – Golden goat (buck goat) with red hooves and horns, on a dark blue shield. The goat as a symbol of Istria is claimed to be associated with Istria since ancient times. However the origins of this coat of arms are unclear and until the 19th century there was no official symbol of Istria. The first depictions are found on the maps of Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in the 17th century and later in Stemmatographia sive armorum Illyricorum delineatio, descriptio et restitutio (1701) by Pavao Ritter Vitezović. It was only in 1861 when the March of Istria became the Crown land in the Austrian Empire that this coat of arms became official. The current variant used in the crest and also as the coat of arms of County of Istria are both derived from the March of Istria arms from 1861 by Hugo Gerard Ströhl.

|-

| center|90px

|

|

Slavonia region – Coat of arms of Slavonia: Bleu celeste, a fess Gules fimbriated Argent surmounted by a mullet of six points Or, a marten Sable courant proper in chief – Six-pointed star (morning star, but Mars instead of Venus which showed a marten running on a field between two six-pointed stars. The coat of arms was officially granted by king Vladislaus II Jagiellon on December 8, 1496. It is only Croatian land which has preserved original coat of arms and description, stating that it received because of the Slavonian peoples heroic defense against the Ottoman Turks, and considered as "a special shield or rather a bulwark of this our Hungarian kingdom".

|}

More traditional heraldic pundits have criticized recent unorthodox designs such as adding a crown to the coat, varying shades of blue in its even fields, adding the red border around the coat, and using red and blue together. The government has accepted their criticism insofar as not accepting further nontraditional designs for the county coats of arms, but the national symbol has remained intact.

Unlike in many countries, Croatian design more commonly uses symbolism from the coat of arms, rather than from the Croatian flag. This is partly due to the geometric design of the shield which makes it appropriate for use in many graphic contexts (e.g. the insignia of Croatia Airlines or the design of the shirt for the Croatia national football team), and partly because the Pan-Slavic colors are present in many European flags.

Historical versions of the crown arms

Most coats of arms used in the crown on the modern-day coat of arms differ slightly from historically accurate versions.

<gallery perrow="5" class="center">

File:Coat of arms of Illyria (yellow star).svg|"Illyrian" coat of arms<br>(also known as Leliwa coat of arms or the oldest symbol of Croatia)

File:Coat of arms of Dubrovnik.svg|Coat of arms of Dubrovnik

File:HRV Dalmatia COA langued gules.svg|Coat of arms of Dalmatia

File:Coat of arms of Istria.svg|Coat of arms of Istria

File:HRV Slavonia COA.svg|Coat of arms of Kingdom of Slavonia

</gallery>

<div align="left">

<gallery perrow="9">

File:Coat of arms of Croatia 1495.svg|First known example of Croatian checkerboard as depicted in Innsbruck, Austria (1495)

File:Nürnberg St. Sebald - Kaiserfenster Wappen Kroatien.jpg|Coat of arms of Croatia as depicted in St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg (1514)

File:Croatian coa 1527.png|Coat of arms of Croatia used in 1527 as part of a seal on the Cetingrad Charter

File:Coat of Arms of Kingdom of Croatia.svg|Kingdom of Croatia (1525–1868)

File:Wappen Königreich Croatien.jpg|Coat of arms of Croatian Crown land (until 1868)

File:Coa Croatia Country History (with crown) (1868-1918).svg|Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (1868–1918). The official version had St. Stephen's crown due to Croatia being part of Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen.

File:Coa Hungary Country History Mid (1867).svg|Coat of arms of Transleithania (1868–1915)

File:Domoljubna značka 1914.jpg|Patriotic badge from 1914

File:Coa Hungary Country History (1916).svg|Lesser coat of arms of Transleithania (1915–1918)

File:Austro-hungarian coat of arms 1914.svg|Common coat of arms of Austria-Hungary (1915–1918)

File:Lesser Coat of arms of Austria-Hungary.svg|Austria-Hungary, lesser version (1916–1918)

File:Coat of arms of Croatia (State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs).svg|Coat of arms of Croatia (State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs period)

File:Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.svg|Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)

File:Coat of Arms of the Banate of Croatia.svg|Banovina of Croatia (1939–1941)

File:Coat of arms of Croatia (1941–1945).svg|Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945)

File:Emblem of the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia.svg|ZAVNOH & Federal State of Croatia (1943)

File:CoA of the Federal State of Croatia.svg|ZAVNOH & Federal State of Croatia (1943–1947)

File:Coat of Arms of Socialist Republic of Croatia.svg|Socialist Republic of Croatia (1947–1990)

File:Coat of arms of Croatia (white chequy).svg|Early coat of arms of the Republic of Croatia (1990)

File:Grbovi u Crkvi Majke Božje Sljemenske, Kraljice Hrvata.jpg|Historical Croatian coats of arms depicted in Church of the Mother of God of Sljeme, Queen of Croats

</gallery>

</div>

See also

  • Flag of Croatia

References

  • Republic of Croatia – Ministry of Foreign Affairs & European Integration
  • Croatian Government website – Flag, Coat-of-Arms and National Anthem
  • Croatian Coat of Arms during centuries – Darko Zubrinic, 2005
  • Croatia – Coat of Arms – Zeljko Heimer 2000
  • Croatia – Proposals for New Flag in 1990 – Flags of The World
  • Croatia – Political Flags – Flags of The World
  • C. Michael McAdamas: Croatia – Myth and Reality