The Parliament of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Northern Serbia) adopted the coat of arms of the province on 28 June 2002. Coat of arms is based on the flag of the Zemun National Guard in 1848.
The three fields of the coat of arms of Vojvodina bear the coats of arms of 3 historic regions of Vojvodina, granted in the 18th century:
- Backa. The coat of arms of Backa was granted by King Leopold I (1657-1705) in 1699. It was later (1861) retained for the County of Backa-Bodrog. In blue field on a green grass standing St. Paul wearing blue shirt and red toga with golden nimbus holding in dexter a downpointed silver sword with golden hilt and in sinister a black book (Bible). The Backa-Bodrog county was divided between Hungary and Yugoslavia after the First World War. The northern part of it was later incorporated into Bács-Kiskun county of Hungary, that also uses the coat of arms with St. Peter in its dexter half.
- Banat. The golden lion rampant on red holding a sabre was the coat of arms of the Tamis Banat (Serbian: Tamiki Banat). It was an Austrian crown land, its governor responding directly to the Emperor, and existed from 1718, when the area was taken over from the Ottoman Empire, to 1779, when it was abolished. The coat of arms of the Tamis Banat is derived from the oldest arms of the Habsburg family, which were: Or a lion rampant gules armed langued and crowned azure. The arms denote the land as the Emperor's personal possession (hence the lion, only without the crown, and the colours, or and gules reversed and azure excluded, or in its place), which is situated at the border with the Ottoman Empire (hence the sabre in lion's paw). The coat of arms is nowadays used only in the part of Banat in Vojvodina. The coat of arms of the part of Banat in Romania is partly based on it, too: gules over waves azure a bridge with two arched openings or wherefrom issuing a demi-lion or holding a sabre in its right forepaw. Half of the lion also appears on the arms of Timis county in Romania.
- Srem. The third coat of arms is that of Srem, granted in 1747 by Queen Maria Theresa. The modern Croatian county of Vukovar-Srijem uses the same coat of arms. The three white stripes on blue, representing the three rivers of Srem: Bosut , Sava and Danube. The deer that is resting on the ground is close to the poplar (topola) green tree. The tree changed though the history. In the original grant the tree was a cypress tree. The modern Croatian design prefered it to make it an oak tree, which is abundant in the region and is a kind of a national symbol. Similarly, poplar is connected to Serbia (the royal family stems from a place named Topola ).
Last updated: 06-03-2005 00:14:52