Croatian coat of arms
The Croatian coat of arms consists of one main coat of arms and five smaller ones that crown the main one.
The main coat of arms is a checkerboard (chequy) that consists of 13 red and 12 silver (white) fields. Its common name is šahovnica, originally a somewhat pejorative name given to it during the communist Yugoslavia.
The red/white checkerboard has been a symbol of Croatian kings since at least the 10th century, ranging in size from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like the current coat. The oldest source confirming the coat as an official symbol is a genealogy of the Habsburger, dated from 1512 to 1518. In 1525 it was used on a votive medal. The pattern resembles an autochthonic flower called kockavica.
The law dated December 21, 1990 prescribed a design created by the graphic designer 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 coats which represent the historical regions from which Croatia originated. They are, from left to right:
- the oldest known Croatian coat of arms: a golden six-pointed star (representing the daystar) over a silver moon on a blue shield. It represents the capital city Zagreb and central Croatia in general.
- the coat of arms of Dalmatia: three golden, crowned lions, two over one, on a blue shield. Some sources speak of leopards, but most pictures show lions. This coat was Dalmatian since the 13th century and probably originates from the Anjou ruling dynasty.
- the coat of arms of Istria: a golden goat with red hooves and horns, on a dark blue shield.
- the coat of arms of Slavonia: two silver stripes on blue shield (representing the rivers Drava and Sava that mark the northern and the southern border of Slavonia, resp.), between them on a red field a black, running marten (kuna), above a six-pointed, golden star. This coat was assigned to Slavonia by king Ladislaus Jagiello in 1496.
Unlike the majority of countries, symbols of Croatian identity are more frequently derived from its coat-of-arms than from the Croatian flag.
The issue of the coat-of-arms was fairly often part of a political dispute during the recent history of Croatia:
- During the times of the second Yugoslavia, the checkerboard symbol on the national tricolour was replaced with a red star, as with other flags of the Yugoslav Socialist Republics. The šahovnica was considered an expression of nationalism and deprecated. Still, it was depicted in the centre of the coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Croatia, but surrounded with the usual features of communist coats of arms: wheat, star at the top, the sun and the sea.
- Some right-wing Croats claimed that the colour of the top left square is a mark of whether Croatia is independent or ruled by foreigners, white or red respectively. However, this is a red herring because only the short-lived Nazi puppet state "Independent State of Croatia" had the upper left square white with such an intent. Croatia is currently independent and the first square is red.
Some of the more traditional heraldic pundits have also criticized the latest design for various unorthodox solutions such as adding a crown to the coat, varying shades of blue in its even fields, and adding the red border around the coat. The government has accepted their criticism insofar as not accepting further non-traditional designs for the county coats of arms, but the national symbol has remained intact.
