Coat of Arms of Wroclaw
The Coat of Arms of Wrocław is divided into quarters.
In the upper right quarter is the Silesian eagle. The crowned lion rampant in the upper left represents the Kingdom of Bohemia, to which Wrocław belonged to since 1336. In the centre is the head of John the Baptist, patron saint of the city. The letter W stands for both Wrocław and for the legendary founder of the city, Wratyslaw.
This particular version of the arms was given to the city in 1530.
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, this coat of arms was abolished, as the Nazi authorities viewed it as too Slavic.
It was replaced by a “pure German” coat of arms, a shield parted horizontally, with a black Prussian eagle on the top, and a red Iron Cross on the bottom (see: Red Army in 1945.
Wrocław, as part of the People's Republic of Poland, had a different coat of arms to the one used today; the coat of arms used from 1948 to 1990 joined a Silesian black eagle on gold and a Polish white eagle on a red field.
After the collapse of communism, the city decided to revert back to the coat of arms of 1530.
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