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Republic of Serbian Krajina (Croatia, 1991-1995): Coat of arms

Last modified: 2014-12-20 by ivan sache
Keywords: republic of serbian krajina |
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• First design (January 1992)
• Second design (September 1992)
• Design jointly used with Republika Srpska (October 1992)
• Coat of arms represented on banknotes
• Coat of arms on police uniforms

See also:

• Republic of Serbian Krajina (Croatia, 1991-1995)
• Croatia
• Serbia
• Homeland War (1991-1995)

First design

First official arms of the RSK, two representations - Images by Željko Heimer, 15 December 2013

The first coat of arms of the RSK is prescribed in Article 6 of the Constitution, Ustav Republike Srpske Krajine, published on 2 January 1992 in the RSK official gazette Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 1 (text), as follows.

The coat of arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina is a figure of two-headed white eagle in ascent. At the eagle's breasts is a shield with a cross and firesteels, and under the shield is the inscription "Krajina".

The arms are printed on the cover of the official release of the Constitution adopted on 19 December 1991 by the Constitutional Assembly. A copy of the booklet was presented in the exhibition held in 2013 in the Croatian History Museum; it is printed in the exhibition catalog (Matea Brstilo Rešetar, Ivica Nevešćanin, Andreja Smetko Domovinski rat: Katalog izložbe, Hrvatski povijesni muzej, 2013 54 (Inv. br. HPM-93352), p. 82.
The design features a relatively crude drawing of the eagle, with a red shield with golden cross and firesteels, and with a red arched ribbon inscribed in golden yellow with "KRAJINA" in traditional Serbian Cyrillic typeface. The eagle is entirely white (beak, tongue and talons included) with grayish lines denoting the feathers. It is set (for ornamental, that is, graphical, reasons, no doubt) on a rectangular blue background outlined in red.

The line drawing of the coat of arms shown on the header of the official gazette is not entirely consistent with the description of the Constitution. The inscription "Krajina" is not under the shield, but under the entire figure. There are two fleurs-de-lis under the eagle, between the talons and the tail.
This representation must be a graphical element that was available from the Kingdom of Serbia period (or some such that was available in short notice), with the crown removed and inscription added. The fleurs-de-lis are recurring elements, which are as a rule ignored in the textual descriptions, but often present in designs used.

Željko Heimer, 15 December 2013

This design has appeared in the TV broadcasts in Serbia several times during 1991 as a shield of arms, stylized generally as the 2004-2011 shield of arms of Serbia, except the colors and the added ribbon with the inscription, and a regular heraldic bordure in red instead of an outline.

Tomislav Todorović, 16 December 2013

Second design

Second official arms of the RSK - Image by Željko Heimer, 16 December 2013

The coat of arms was changed in the Constitutional Amendment Amandman IX, Odluka o proglašenju amandmana IX, X i XI na Ustav Republike Srpske Krajine, adopted on 28 September 1992 and published on 29 September 1992 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 15 (text), as follows:

1. The coat of arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina is a figure of a two-headed white eagle in ascent, with a crown. At the eagle's breasts is a shield with a cross and firesteels.
2. This Amendment shall replace Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

The inscription was removed and a crown wass added. The fleurs-de-lis are still not mentioned.
On the official gazette, the coat of arms was updated in the first issue in 1993; this design remained in use on all gazettes until 1995 and the virtual end of the RSK. It included a simple graphical crown set above the same graphical representation of the eagle with the shield, with fleurs-de-lis.

The rules of procedure of the RSK Assembly are prescribed by Poslovnik Skupštine Republike Srpske Krajine, adopted on 28 September 1992, and published on 29 September 1992 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 16 (text).
Article 3 of the rules describes the Assembly seal, which includes the coat of arms, being described in almost the same words as in the Amendment IX, as follows.

The seal of the Assembly is of circular shape with the coat of arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, in the centre - the figure of two-headed eagle in ascent with a crown, on its breasts there is a shield with a cross and firesteels, and around the coat of arms an inscription in Cyrillic script "Republic of Serbian Krajina - the Assembly of the Republic - Knin".

To this design belongs the coat of arms featured on the unpublished transitional banknotes (vrijednosni bon vouchers) that are dated by most catalogues to 1991. A few serious works (example) date these notes to 1992, wich is proven by the use of the second official coat of arms. The banknotes (image) were printed locally in Knin, unlike the subsequent banknotes, which were printed in Belgrade. The design is virtually the same, only the crown is of a slightly differently shape and is touching the eagle's heads.

Željko Heimer, 16 September 2013

Design jointly used with Republika Srpska

Joint arms of the RSK and of Republika Srpska - Image by Željko Heimer, 17 December 2013

The joint Declaration of the Assemblies of RSK and Republika Srpska Deklaracija Skupštine Republike Srpske Krajine i Skupštine Republike Srpske, adopted on 31 October 1992 and published on 2 November 1992 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 17 (text) sayss:

2. The two Assemblies declare that the citizens of Republika Srpska and of the Republic of Serbian Krajina shall have the Serbian citizenship, and that the state symbols shall be the same and in accordance with the historical continuity of the Serb people and the existing Constitutional and legal designs.
The coat of arms is the traditional coat of arms of Nemanjić with a crown, the flag is Serbian: red-blue-white tricolour and the anthem is Bože pravde.

The symbols of Republika Srpska were at the time prescribed by Decision Odluka o obliku i izgledu zastave Srpske Republike Bosne i Hercegovine, adopted on 9 January or 28 February 1992, and published in the official gazette Službeni glasnik srpskog naroda u BiH, No. 6.
On 24 November 1992 Republika Srpska adopted a new Constitutional Law to regulate the symbols, proclaimed on 3 December 1992 and published in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske, NO. 19., followed in 1993 by a Law on their use, and, in 1995, by the determination of the standard.

The declaration made the symbols of the two entities equal, meaning that they were virtually interchangeable.
Strictly speaking, the "traditional coat of arms ofNemanjić" should be only the two-headed eagle on a red shield, without either the escutcheon with cross and firesteels or fleurs-de-lis.
Following the late 1992 Declaration, the same design would be in use. Among those available online, the design with bold black outlines, golden royal crown, golden beak and talons and a red tongue is considered to be the "most official" one. There are no fleurs-de-lis, which were by the time already (mis)associated with the Bosnian Muslims in the War of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This design was shown, with very minor stylistic differences, on the stamps released in 1993 by the RSK post, although the crown was there (to save on additional printing colour) shown as line drawing without gold: the entire design is made as blue line drawing with red used in the escutcheon. The design was first released as the highest value of the first definitive series issued on 24 March 1993 (2000 dinars), then as the "A" denomination (image) on 15 June 1993, and the last overprinted with "D" denomination on 1 November 1993. On 26 February 1994 the same design in full colours was issued as 0.80 N. D. (new dinars) (image).

Željko Heimer, 17 December 2013

Coat of arms represented on banknotes

Issuing banknotes soon proved to be a permanent task, as the hyperinflation was demanding newer and higher denominations literally daily. So in 1993 and 1994 (when the individual issues were eventually stopped and the Yugoslav dinar was introduced) altogether 34 different denominations were printed in four series with monetary reforms in between.
In the same time Republika Srpska issued its own banknotes, which were identical in design, but differed in various inscriptions. The later two series had different obverse for the two entities, but the reverse that depict the coat of arms was the same (except for the inscriptions).

Arms of the RSK represented on banknotes of the 1st and 2nd series, grayscale version and colour interpretation - Images by Željko Heimer, 20 December 2013

The first two series depict on both sides arms that differ from the official ones. The arms are entirely set in a shield, lacking the crown but featuring two fleurs-de-lis in the base. The drawings does not provide hatching to indicate colours, so the intended colours are a matter of speculation. As many of these notes had blueish shades, they may be the source, or a means of popularization of the blue versions of the arms that were found at the time in the two entities. The colour of the inescutcheon should have been red, but blue versions of it were also around.
The banknotes were prescribed by Decisions that described in details the elements of the banknote designs. The obverse is described in Article 4 as: "... Under the text [inscribed along the top left] is the coat of arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (white two-headed eagle with a shield and firesteels), and left and right from the coat of arms are..." In the description of the reverse, the description of the coat of arms is omitted. The description is imprecise regarding the "shield" (omitting the cross), "forgets" about the prescribed crown, and omits the fleurs-de-lis that were actually included.

The wording is the same in all the Decisions: Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 50.000 dinara, adopted on 25 January 1993 and published on 29 March 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 1 (text); Odluka o osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 100.000 dinara, adopted on 7 April 1993 and published on 20 April 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 4 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 1.000.000 dinara, adopted on 4 May 1993 and published on 5 June 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 5 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 5.000.000 dinara and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 10.000.000 dinara, adopted on 7 July 1993 and published on 28 July 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 9 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 20.000.000 dinara, Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 50.000.000 dinara, Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 50.000.000 dinara and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 100.000.000 dinara, adopted on 6 August 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 500.000.000 dinara and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 1.000.000.000 dinara, adopted on 7 September 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 5.000.000.000 dinara and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 10.000.000.000 dinara, adopted on 5 October 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text).

Arms of the RSK represented on banknotes of the 3rd and 4th series - Image by Željko Heimer, 20 December 2013

The third and fourth series (October 1993 and January 1994) show a design of the arms fairly similar to the "official" one, still with minor stylization differences. The crown is shown while the fleurs-de-lis are not and there is no background shield.
The banknotes were prescribed by Decisions that described in details the elements of the banknote designs. The reverse is described as "... and under that [inscription] is the graphically stylized coat of arms of the Republic of Serbian Krajina (white two-headed eagle with a crown, a shield and firesteels), and left and right from the coat of arms..." The "shield" is again not described in much detalis - not mentioning the cross, but at least the description is much closer to what was printed than in the first series.

The wording is the same in all the Decisions: Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 5.000 dinara, adopted on 25 October 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text); Odluka o osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 50.000 dinara, adopted on 26 October 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 100.000 dinara, adopted on 2 November 1993 and published on 3 November 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 14 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 500.000 dinara and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 5.000.000 dinara, adopted on 10 November 1993 and published on 31 December1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 18 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 500.000.000 dinara, adopted on 10 December 1993 and published on 31 December 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 18 (text); Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 5.000.000.000 dinara, Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 10.000.000.000 dinara, and Odluka o izdavanju i osnovnim obeležjima novčanice od 50.000.000.000 dinara, adopted on 20 December 1993 and published on 31 December 1993 in Službeni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 18 (text).

For the fourth series of banknotes (1994), the Decisions retained the description with almost identical wording; however, the "detailed" description of the coat of arms was dropped, the arms being only mentioned.

Željko Heimer, 20 December 2013

Coat of arms on police uniforms

Police uniforms were prescribed by Pravilnik o oznakama zvanja, oznakama funkcija i uniformi ovlašćenih službenih lica organa unutrašnjih poslova, adopted on 22 June 1993 and published on 28 July 1993 in Služ:beni glasnik Republike Srpske Krajine, No. 9 (text). Article 6 says that the beret has to include "embroidered Nemanja's coat of arms".

Željko Heimer, 20 December 2013

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