Coat of Arms of Moscow

Coat of arms of Moscow
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Adopted November 23, 1993

The coat of arms of Moscow depicts a horseman with a spear in his hand slaying a basilisk and is identified with Saint George and the Dragon. The heraldic emblem of Moscow has been an integral part of the coat of arms of Russia since the 16th century.

The emblem had its origins in the Byzantine tradition of depicting a patron saint of the ruling monarch on his seal and coins. Yaroslav the Wise (died 1054) was the first Russian ruler to have Saint George as his personal patron saint. Accordingly, he founded several cities and churches in the name of that saint.

Saint George was also the patron saint of Yaroslav's great-grandson, Yury Dolgoruky, who - according to tradition - founded the city of Moscow shortly before his death in 1157. (The name "Yury" is a Russian-language equivalent of "George".) Yury Dolgoruky is thought to have honored his patron saint on his coins, which represent a standing warrior holding a sword in his right hand. Yury's elder brother, Mstislav the Great (Grand Prince of Kiev from 1125 to 1132), also used a seal featuring a horseman slaying a basilisk. According to one theory, this might have been a reference to St. George as the patron saint of England, since Mstislav's maternal grandfather, Harald II, reigned as the last Anglo-Saxon king of that country in 1066.

A century later, Alexander Nevsky (lived 1221-1263) resumed this usage. Several of his coins depict a horseman slaying a basilisk or a dragon, though the beast 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 (1240) and the Battle of the Ice (1242).

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