Medieval and Manuscripts

Coat of arms of Poland

The coat of arms of Poland is the heraldic symbol representing Poland. The current version was adopted in 1990. It is a white, crowned eagle with a golden beak and talons, on a red background. In Poland, the coat of arms as a whole is referred to as godło both in official documents and colloquial speech, despite the fact that other coats of arms are usually called a herb (e.g. the Nałęcz herb or the coat of arms of Finland). This stems from the fact that in Polish heraldry, the word godło (plural: godła) means only a heraldic charge (in this particular case a white crowned eagle) and not an entire coat of arms, but it is also an archaic word for a national symbol of any sort. In later legislation only the herb retained this designation; it is unknown why.

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See also

• ▸Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
• ▸Richard Vasmer
• ▸Armenian Cypriots

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