The coat of arms of the city of Murom in 2016 celebrated its 235th birthday. Why is it depicted precisely a lion and kalachi? Did the Muromites have any kind of heraldry before the appearance of this coat of arms? What is the story of the creation of the main symbol of the city? The answers to all questions are below.
Without coat of arms
Murom did not always have his own coat of arms. But it has been known since ancient times. Surely there is no person in Russia who would not hear the famous epic name - Ilya Muromets. Neither in the times of Ancient Russia, nor during the Middle Ages, the tradition to assign a coat of arms to each city simply did not exist. True, there was still a certain symbolism: initially its functions were carried out by military banners, and then they were replaced by icons. In particular, the Muromites were guarded by the face of the Savior Not Made by Hands. The main icon of the city has long been located on the Spasskaya Tower of the local Kremlin.
Moore can be attributed to the settlements, which acquired their own emblem relatively later. Many Russian cities turned out to be much more advanced in this regard. Perhaps Murom would have lived “under the icon,” if it had not been for the Senate decree of 1724, according to which every city in Russia should have a coat of arms. The introduction of reform has begun. The process was led by Italian Francis Santi.
The first coat of arms of Murom
By 1729, the Muromites could boast of their own coat of arms. True, he did not look at all like today. According to a record in the coat of arms of 1729-1730, the main symbol of Murom was an image of a white wall on a azure field. He also had a hand holding out the princely crown on a gold chain.
According to the old Russian tradition, the creation of this coat of arms used the symbols of the military unit, which stood in Murom as a garrison. The banners of the 21st Infantry Regiment also had an emblem with a battlemented white fortress, a hand in the clouds, and a crown. It is believed that the first coat of arms of Murom was deciphered as follows: the wall is a symbol of the state border on which the city stood then; hand with a crown - a tribute to the princes of Vladimir, who once ruled here.
There is another version, according to which the image of the fortress was taken as the basis of the coat of arms because of the name of the city (after all, “ant” means building walls, and marble was called the word “mur-mur”). A hand from heaven is a blessing from God, and a crown is a memory of princely times.
New coat of arms of the city
In the second half of the eighteenth century, heraldic reform in Russia continued. Work was underway to create new and improve old characters. The coat of arms of Murom with a white wall and a hand from the clouds could not hold its positions. He was replaced by a new one, which was officially registered on August 16, 1781.
Muromets received a completely new picture. In its upper part is depicted the Vladimir coat of arms, which is a crowned lion standing in a red field on the hind legs with a silver cross in its right paw. And at the bottom there are three kalachi painted.
Decoding Symbols
Why, then, did the city of Murom receive such a picture as the main symbol? The coat of arms, the description of which is given above, is decrypted quite simply. The fact is that under Catherine the Great they decided to reflect the specific features of settlements in heraldry. That is, to talk about the main activities of the local population, about some achievements or sights. Moore , for many, was associated exclusively with kalach, and tastiest. There is even a legend that the city residents who were traveling around the city of Catherine were treated to delicious pastries, and the queen was delighted. And Paul the First liked the local kalachs so much that he even sent several pieces by mail to Petersburg.
The fame of the "bread masters" of Murom thundered far beyond the province. Muromtsev called "Kalachnik". And therefore it is not at all surprising that such an image is located in the lower part of the coat of arms. And the upper part (the crowned lion) was present on the main symbols of all the cities of the Vladimir province. She was a common emblem. As for the symbolism of flowers, blue is softness, beauty and grandeur, and gold is abundance, generosity and justice. This is what the modern coat of arms of Murom, officially approved in 2004, means.
Murom flag
A few words should be said about the flag of one of the most ancient cities of Russia, known as the birthplace of the epic hero. This official symbol is a rectangular panel of blue color (the ratio of length and width is three to two) with the image of three executioners.
Thus, the coat of arms and the flag of Murom are, in fact, one and the same picture, differing only in shades of colors. In the second case, the blue background is somewhat muffled, and the streamers, on the contrary, seem brighter, as if luminous.
Muromets love and honor their heraldry, which goes back centuries and is a symbol of a beautiful and prosperous city with a great past and future to match it.