Coat of arms of Carpatho-Ukraine

Coat of arms of Carpathian Ruthenia, the current Zakarpattia Oblast

The coat of arms of Carpatho-Ukraine is the official heraldic crest of Zakarpattia Oblast in Ukraine.

The coat of arms were created after the end of the First World War, when the region of Carpathian Ruthenia was transferred from Hungary to the newly created state of Czechoslovakia. It was designed by Gustav Friedrich. The Ukrainians (Ruthenians) had been promised authonomy within the new country and therefore arms were created for their land.

The arms show the Ukrainian tinctures (heraldic colours) of blue and gold in its first (dexter) field and a red bear on silver in its second field. The bear is perhaps a symbol for the Carpathian wildlife.^[1] The horizontal lines (in heraldry called fesses) could perhaps have been inspired by the partitions per fess in the coat of arms of Hungary, to which the territory had belonged.

The arms were also used by the short-lived state of Carpatho-Ukraine in 1939, but with the addition of the Ukrainian trident in the uppermost blue field, used previously by the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Since the territory is the same for the current Zakarpattia Oblast, the oblast uses the arms as its own.

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  In the interwar years, the arms were part of the coat of arms of Czechoslovakia.

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  The coat of arms of Carpatho-Ukraine in 1939.

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  The flag of the Zakarpattia Oblast is a Ukrainian flag defaced with the coat of arms.

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  The flag of Carpathian Ruthenia with the coat of arms.

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  The coat of arms of Rusyns in Croatia

References

1. "Das Flaggenlexikon: Karpato-Ukraine (Transkarpatien): Wappen – Coat of Arms". Retrieved 12 January 2014.