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Our logo is the State Emblem of Russian Empire. Why did we decide to choose specifically this logo?
We have the honor to represent Russia in the United States of America and on the International Market. Russian Empire at the end of 19th century, the time when this Emblem was taken as a final version, was the Homeland of dozens of nationalities, hundreds of peoples, thousands of ethnic groups who had different but rich own cultures, centuries-long traditions, who once were one Great Nation -Russians and lived on vast lands of that Empire . We introduce the merchandise on the American market which represents these people- their history and destiny, their every day life and tell us about their incredible huge and incomparable multi faceted talent. We will try to give you a chance to see that it is true.
We also would like to share with You, Dear Collector, some interesting historic information about the emblems, signs, birds and animals used for those emblems. It will give you an impression about the greatness of Russia of those remote times.
The Emblems of the Russian Empire were the state emblem and the state seal in three variants: great, medium and minor. Quite often the Russian state emblems are incorrectly called "coats of arms".
The State Emblem of the Russian Empire
The Great State Seal of the Russian Empire, with state coat of arms in the middle
Minor State Seal of the Russian Empire (final version, 1883)
The National emblems of the Russian Empire were the state emblem and the state seal in three variants: great, medium and minor. Quite often the Russian state emblems are incorrectly called "coats of arms".
State Emblem
The State Emblem of the Russian Empire (Герб Российской Империи) consisted of a golden escutcheon with a black two-headed eagle crowned with two imperial crowns, over which the same third crown, enlarged, with two flying ends of the ribbon of the Order of Saint Andrew. The State Eagle held a golden scepter and golden globus cruciger. On the chest of the Eagle there was an escutcheon with the arms of Moscow, depicting Saint George, mounted and defeating the Serpent.
Great State Seal
The depicted Great State Seal (Большой государственный герб Российской Империи) was adopted in 1882, replacing the previous version of 1857. Tsar Alexander III first approved the relevant design on July 24, which, with minor modifications, was officially adopted on November 3.
It's central element is the State Emblem, crowned with the helmet of Alexander Nevsky, with black and golden mantling, and flanked by the archangels Michael and Gabriel. The collar of the Order of Saint Andrew is suspended from the State Emblem. The whole lies within a golden ermine mantle, crowned by the Imperial Crown of Russia and decorated with black double-headed eagles. The inscription on the canopy reads: Съ Нами Богъ! ("God with us"). Above the canopy stands the state khorugv, of gold cloth, on which is depicted the Medium State Seal. The banner is topped by the State Eagle.
Around the central composition are placed fifteen coats of arms of the various territories of the Russian Empire. Nine of these are crowned and placed on a laurel and oak wreath. From left to right, these represent, as they are included in the full imperial title: the Khanate of Kazan, the Kingdom of Poland, Tauric Chersonesos, the unified coat of arms of the Grand Principalities of Kiev, Vladimir and Novgorod, the dynastic arms of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Georgian principalities, and the Khanates of Siberia and Astrakhan.
The six upper escutcheons are joint depictions of various smaller principalities and oblasts. From left to right, these are: the combined arms of the northeastern regions (Perm, Volga Bulgaria, Vyatka, Kondinsky, Obdorsk), of Belorussia and Lithuania (Lithuania, Białystok, Samogitia, Polatsk, Vitebsk, Mstislavl), the provinces of Great Russia proper (Pskov, Smolensk, Tver, Nizhniy-Novgorod, Ryazan, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersk, Udorsky), the arms of the southwestern regions (Volhyn, Podolsk, Chernigov), the Baltic provinces (Estland, Courland and Semigalia, Karelia, Livland) and Turkestan.
Medium State Seal
The Medium State Seal (Средний государственный герб Российской Империи) is similar to the Great State Seal, excluding the khorugv and the six upper escutcheons. The Abbreviated Imperial Title is inscribed over the perimeter of the Seal.
Minor State Seal
The Minor State Seal (Малый государственный герб Российской Империи) depicts the imperial double-headed eagle, as used in the State Emblem, with the addition of the collar of the Order of Saint Andrew around the escutcheon of St. George, and the Arms of Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, Finland, Kiev-Vladimir-Novgorod, Taurica, Poland and Kazan on the wings (seen clockwise).
The center of the State Emblem of Russian Empire is St. George.
St. George is a very notorious historic figure.
In Christian hagiography Saint George - The Saint who killed the Dragon (ca. 275-281– April 23, 303) was a soldier of the Roman Empire, from Anatolia, now modern day Turkey, who was venerated as a Christian martyr. Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Churches. Immortalized in the tale of George and the Dragon, he is the patron saint of Canada, Catalonia, England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, the cities of Beirut, Istanbul, Ljubljana and Moscow, as well as a wide range of professions, organizations and disease sufferers.
The Russian emblem had its origins in a Byzantine tradition of depicting a patron saint of the ruling monarch on his seal and coins. Yaroslav the Wise was the first Russian ruler whose patron saint was Saint George. Accordingly, he built several cities and churches in the name of that saint.
Saint George was also the patron saint of his great grandson, Yury Dolgoruky, who founded the city of Moscow. Yury is thought to have honored his patron saint on his coins which represent a standing warrior holding a sword in his right hand.
For some reasons not completely understood, Yury's elder brother, Mstislav the Great, started to use a seal featuring a horseman slaying a dragon. According to some, this might have been a reference to St. George as the patron saint of England, since Mstislav's maternal grandfather was the last Anglo-Saxon king of that country, Harald II.
A century later, Alexander Nevsky resumed this usage. A lot of his coins depict a horseman slaying a dragon, though the latter is not always visible. Alexander's motivation for reverting to Mstislav's emblem is disputed. It is possible that the image referred to his own victories over the Swedish and German crusaders in the Battle of the Neva and Battle of the Ice.
Muscovite Russia
Alexander's great grandson, Ivan II, was the first ruler of Moscow to employ as his emblem the standing warrior with a sword in his hand. Ivan's son Dmitry Donskoy chose to represent this warrior riding a horse with a spear in his hand. Historians traditionally connect Dmitry's symbol with his victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo, although historical clues are scarce. At about the same time, a similar symbol, the Pahonia, emerged as a state emblem in the rival Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Modern statue of St. George and the Dragon on Poklonnaya Gora.
Whatever the meaning of Dmitry's emblem, there is no reason to suppose that the dragon symbolised Islam and the horseman stood for Christianity, as some modern interpreters suggest, demanding to remove the symbol from the Coat of arms of Russia for neutrality's sake.
The symbol of the horseman slaying the dragon passed down through the generations: from Dmitry to his son Vasily I, then to Vasily II and Ivan III. A coin which featured the image became known as kopeck, from kopyo, the Russian word for "spear".
Ivan III used the triumphant horseman as a state emblem of Russia on his seal from 1479. In 1497, it was replaced with the double-headed eagle, popularly interpreted as a symbol of Ivan's marriage into the last ruling dynasty of the East Roman Empire, thus illustrating his claim to the Byzantine political and cultural heritage.
Both emblems had been used on state seals alternatively until 1562, when the first Russian tsar, Ivan the Terrible, combined them by placing a heraldic shield with the triumphant horseman to the chest of the double-headed eagle. This layout has become known as the Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire and then of the Russian Federation.
© Alex Kotlov
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The double-headed eagle is a common symbol in heraldry and vexillology. Several Eastern European nations use this symbol today, having adopted this symbol from the Eastern Roman Empire, known more commonly today as the Byzantine Empire. In Eastern Roman heraldry, the heads represent the dual sovereignty of the Emperor (secular and religious) and/or dominance of the Roman Emperors over both East and West. The Russian tsars adopted the symbol both to position themselves as successors to the Byzantine state and to likewise symbolize their dominion over the west ( Europe) and the east ( Asia). The head on the left (West) symbolizes Rome, the head on the right (East) symbolizes Constantinople. The cross and orb in the claws symbolize, respectively, spiritual and secular authority. The laurel wreath is below.
The two-headed eagle appears on the coat of arms of the following countries and territories:
It also appears on the following flags:
The double-headed eagle was adopted by the Russian tsars as their own. One eagle head represents the East and the other represents the West. The horseman in the middle has been described as St. George. The orb and sceptor are grasped in the eagle's claws. Above the eagle's heads is the crown.
Now the double-headed eagle is on the coat of arms of the Russian Federation. The double-headed eagle you see here is the modern version; the double-headed eagle insignia that was used by the Tsars had some slight differences.
References were taken from Wikipedia, the principal free source on Internet.
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