In the fall of 2017, on the eve of the apparently upcoming 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, someone had the idea to remove the emblem of the RSFSR that crowned it from the façade of the House of Soviets, now occupied by the Legislative Assembly of the Ulyanovsk Region and other regional institutions. The idea was not at all pleasing – the fight against history, with its symbols, which the Bolsheviks themselves once worked so diligently on, does not lead to anything good. One day the symbols return.
In addition, the coat of arms of the RSFSR and the inscription “House of Soviets” are very organically integrated into the design of the main facade of the building, representing the main and only artistic accent.
Although, of course, the coat of arms is not just aesthetics, it is a symbol of power. Power changes, and with it its symbols, coats of arms and flags change. On March 3, 2004, the law “On the coat of arms and flag of the Ulyanovsk region” was approved, and by the force of this law, the region’s coat of arms, its official symbol, should be placed on the facade of the Legislative Assembly building:
“The coat of arms of the Ulyanovsk region is based on the image of the historical coat of arms of the Simbirsk province and represents: In an azure shield there is a silver column crowned with an imperial crown with azure ribbons. The shield is surmounted by a traditional land crown (with three visible leaf-like prongs). Shield holders are golden lions. One of them holds a sword in his right front paw, and the other holds a sheaf of the same metal. The base is golden oak branches, in the center of which is a golden gear and a silver seagull flying to the right, intertwined with a ribbon in the colors of the region’s flag.”
In 2013, the coat of arms changed somewhat – instead of a whole “sheaf” in the paw of the left lion there were only three ears of corn, the seagull grew in size and became more like a bird than the stylized emblem of UAZ cars. The ribbon in the colors of the regional flag and the golden gear disappeared from the coat of arms, but the motto appeared: “Support of the soul and power.”
The word “coat of arms” came into Russian from Polish, and into Polish from German. There it sounded like “erbe” and meant “inheritance”. The coat of arms really, in a symbolic form, means that certain objects – institutions, people, buildings, things – belong to a specific community: a military unit, a sports club, a city, a locality – a county, a province, a region, an entire country.
It is believed that coats of arms, in their forms, colors and figures that have survived to this day, spread to Western Europe during the era of the Crusades, in the 12th – 13th centuries. It was important for warriors from different countries who spoke different languages to identify “their own” during the campaign and on the battlefield, and this was achieved through bright emblems visible from afar on clothing, and especially on shields.
In Russia, coats of arms began to appear in the 15th century. Widespread use occurred already in the post-Petrine era, in the 18th century, when the Russian Empire tirelessly cut down “windows to Europe.” In 1780, the first official coat of arms appeared in Simbirsk and the Simbirsk governorship, the prototype of the future Simbirsk province.
I have heard from several experts that the Simbirsk coat of arms – a column or pillar topped with a crown – is a unique phenomenon in Russian heraldry. In Russia there is another similar one near Kolomna near Moscow, but there it arose according to the consonance “column – Kolomna”. Such techniques, like local landmarks, are characteristic of heraldry, but Simbirsk is not in tune with either a column or a pillar, and you can’t remember any historical buildings of this type either.
This means that our ancestors are right when they claim that a special coat of arms was granted to Simbirsk for its steadfastness and loyalty to the imperial throne during the events of the Peasant War of 1773 – 1775 under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev. In 1705, by order of Tsar Peter the Great, the book “Symbols and Emblems” was published in Holland, containing 840 images of various emblems, accompanied by captions in nine languages. Behind No. 65 we can see the prototype of the Simbirsk coat of arms – a crown crowning a column with the motto “Supported by honor”. The honor of the Simbirsk nobles supported the crown of the Russian emperors.
“Symbols and emblems” of 1705. Behind No. 65 is a column topped with a crown, which formed the basis of the Simbirsk coat of arms
But not the past era of the Russian Empire, but the very recent era of the existing Russian Federation, the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries, became the “golden era” of Russian heraldry. In 1780, in the same Simbirsk province (or viceroyalty), only the coats of arms of the province and the ten counties that made it up were officially approved. Now we have both the coat of arms and the flag of the Ulyanovsk region, symbols of the city of Ulyanovsk, as the administrative center of the region, two urban districts, 21 municipal districts, 28 urban settlements, and 112 rural ones.
We must pay tribute to the imagination of the developers, their interest in history, traditions, geography, and natural attractions of certain settlements. They found their expression in the appearance of specific coats of arms – and often they turned out to be very original.
The coat of arms of the Nikitinsky rural settlement is probably the most original among all the symbols of populated areas of the Russian Federation: on a red background, a golden beaver eats golden porridge from golden peas with a silver spoon. Beavers in coats of arms are not new. There are them near the city of Bobrov, in the Voronezh region, they were on the Soviet coat of arms of the Belarusian city of Bobruisk, but these settlements are directly named after beavers, none of which ate porridge.
The beaver is included in the coat of arms of the village of Nikitino as a typical representative of the fauna of the Sursky region, where the village is located, and the porridge is a memory of the former owner of the village, Count Dmitry Aleksandrovich Guryev (1758 – 1825), the most influential Russian dignitary of the era of Emperor Alexander I, who at the same time headed all of it financial departments with the imperial cabinet, which was in charge of the personal property of the sovereign, the Ministry of Appanages, which dealt with the property of the highest relatives, and the Ministry of Finance.
Count Guryev (pictured on the right) was a rich man, moreover, hospitable and hospitable. In her time, Guryev’s pates, cutlets and Guryev’s porridge were famous – sweet semolina porridge with milk and cream with the addition of jam, honey, nuts, dried fruits, candied fruits and spices. Now it is considered a dessert that continues to be prepared. The Nikitin coat of arms is non-trivial, and, most importantly, witty.
A golden rodent on the coat of arms of the Tushniy rural settlement, in the Sengileevsky district – a marmot (baibak). He holds a red apple in his paws. An ancient town, founded in the mid-17th century, Tuszna was famous for its orchards. It seems that it was possible not to be “greedy” and let the boibak take a bite – marmots happily eat fruits growing in their habitat.
Once upon a time, by the way, the apple was the same branded product, a symbol of the Simbirsk region, as watermelons still remain for Astrakhan or gingerbread for Tula. Not an apple, but a whole apple tree appears in the coat of arms of the Fabrichnovyselkovsky rural settlement of the Novospassky district. Even the roots of the golden tree on the coat of arms are visible – this is a seedling from a fruit nursery established in the village of Samaykino at the beginning of the 20th century by landowner Alexander Dmitrievich Voeikov, a prominent representative of the galaxy of Simbirsk nobles.
The “talking” coat of arms of Khmelevsky, which is in the Sursky district, a rural settlement – decorated with a golden branch of hops, to an ignorant person it may seem like the label of some drink, but what to do if this is really a “talking” coat of arms. That is, visually reproducing in symbolism the name of the corresponding locality. Khmelevka is based on the banks of the Leika River – and these banks were once abundant in that same hop. By the way, Khmelevka is one of the oldest settlements within the Ulyanovsk region, whose history dates back to the 16th century, to the era of Ivan the Terrible.
What could be depicted on the coat of arms of the Baranovsky rural settlement, in the Nikolaevsky region? Of course, a ram is asking for it, but this symbol, to put it mildly, is not unambiguous – not everyone will like it if they call it that. Therefore, in the Baranovsky coat of arms, the emphasis is placed on a local natural and religious landmark. The Popov spring, located in the vicinity of the village and glorified by the appearance of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, is symbolically shown through a silver fountain, flowing in the lower part of the Baranovsky coat of arms.
The coat of arms of the Oskinsky rural settlement, in the Inzensky district, is very interesting: hands raise a wooden vessel, reminiscent of a ladle, in which a candle burns. This is the so-called “Erzyan shtatol”, an ancestral candle used in pre-Christian rituals of the Mordovian people, which have survived to this day. Oskino is an ancient Mordovian village, founded in 1671, and this is expressed in its symbolism. Traditionally, the stadol was about 15 centimeters high, and it took a pound, more than 400 grams, of wax to make. A candle was not a cheap thing – in everyday life, peasants lit their homes with a finely chopped torch. In exceptional cases, for special celebrations and holidays, ancestral candles up to three meters high were made!
In the Tagai rural settlement, in the Mainsky district, the ancient coat of arms of the city that was the county town from 1780 to 1796 is reproduced: “A river in a green field along which a fish called herring swims, for the river flowing in this city has this name.”
In the 18th century, heraldists who compiled the coat of arms of Tagai in St. Petersburg based on information received and had never seen the Simbirsk borders became confused. In fact, the Seld River never flowed through Tagai – perhaps through the former Tagai district, dozens of miles from the former city. And the Herring River was not called in honor of the herring, which was never found in it. The name of the river is derived from Turkic languages, it means: “water stream, river.” But the mistake is alive, moreover, it has become a tradition.
For those who are not fluent in the Chuvash language, the symbolism of the coat of arms of the Timersyan rural settlement may seem incomprehensible – a golden horseshoe, ladle and anvil, three silver sickles with gold handles, written like waves in the lower part of the coat of arms. This is how the coat of arms of the Tsilninsky district, which includes the corresponding settlement, is “quoted” in Timersyansky. “Timerse” in Chuvash means “blacksmith” – that’s why the coat of arms depicts an anvil with a ladle, like blacksmith’s tools, and sickles with a horseshoe, like products.
The coat of arms of the Tsilninsky urban settlement depicts a golden wheel surrounded by six silver cubes. This is a reminder of the history of the village of Tsilna, which arose relatively recently, in 1942, as a station on the Volzhskaya Rokada – a railway built to transport reinforcements and ammunition to Stalingrad, besieged by the Germans.
What about “cubes”? They look like building materials or bars of soap. This one in the form of a parallelepiped is depicted on the coat of arms of the ancient city of Shuya, which is now in the Ivanovo region. But no, this is sugar, the product of the famous Ulyanovsk sugar factory, located in Tsilna and opened in 1967.
The “dosage” is interesting – six pieces. We try to live without sweets, we limit ourselves, but in the old days sugar was written on coats of arms with hefty heads – the product was expensive, and therefore prestigious. Rich merchants and nobles snacked on expensive sugar and expensive tea, showing not so much their love for the hot drink as the amount of their own capital.
Ivan Sivoplyas, researcher
Museum-reserve “Motherland of V. I. Lenin”
