SMALLER COAT OF ARMS OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE
(approved on 23 February 1883)
The Smaller Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire of 1882 represents a double-headed eagle (one head watches the East, while the other one watches the West of the Russian Empire) crowned with two emperor's crowns, above which there is yet another Tzar's crown with St. Andrew's Order ribbon flying under it. The eagle is holding the golden scepter in his right talon, while the golden imperial orb is in his left talon. Some say that the double-headed eagle coat of arms was adopted in 1497 by Tsar Ivan III, who took the Byzantinian two-headed eagle and improved it with the arms of Moscow.
The arms on the breast of the Smaller Coat of Arms double-headed eagle is indeed the famous arms of Moscow of St. George killing the dragon. The chain around the shield of St. George is the chain of St. Andrew's Order. St. Andrew's Order (or the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First Called) was the highest decoration in the Russian Empire. It was established on 10 March 1699 by Peter the Great, and re-established in modern Russia on 1 July 1998.
The arms on the wings of the eagle are (clockwise starting from the heads):
1. Kingdom of Astrakhan
2. Kingdom of Siberia [or the arms of current Novosibirsk]
3. Kingdom of Georgia
4. Grand Duchy of Finland
5. Grand Duchies of
Kiev,
Vladimir,
Novgorod (all in one arms)
6. Kherson and Taurida
7. Kingdom of Poland
8. Kingdom of Kazan
?© 2004 Copyright Evgenii Prussakov (M.Phil., University of Cambridge)
ORIGIN OF WHITE BLUE RED COLORS
The white-blue-red is based on the coat of arms of the duchy of Moscow, which is red with Saint George, wearing white armor and a blue cape, riding a white horse, holding a blue shield, defeating the dragon.
From Carl Alexander von Volborth's book on heraldry there's this picture about the coat of arms of Moscow :
The caption says:
The rider is said to be St. George from 1730. This version of the arms is dated 1856.
The dominant colors are in effect red, blue and white.
Another book says about the three colors:
The imperial Russia had a red, blue and white flag, created in 1697 by Peter the Great, based on Holland's (...) It was the origin of pan-slavic colors, used by Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia and Bosna (...) The white-blue-red flag was used till the fall of Kerensky's government, in November 1917. The same happened to the two-headed eagle, without the imperial crown.
Note that the 1856 version of St.George shows the rider going from right to left, while on modern shields bot rider and dragon are turned from left to right, whith the spear still in the foreground, making the right-handed knight's position more natural.
?© Oxana Smirnova
