Coat of arms of Tunisia
National emblem featuring crescent, star, galley, scales, and lion.
The coat of arms of Tunisia is divided into three parts, featuring a Carthaginian galley, a black scale, and a black lion grasping a silver scimitar. A banner between the parts bears the national motto: 'Freedom, Order, Justice (حرية، نظام، عدالة).' At the top is a circle with a red border containing the red crescent and star.
Quick Facts
- Middle width
- 150
- Crest
- "A white circle with a figure of a red star with five points encircled by symbol."
- Motto
- نظام - حرية - عدالة ('Freedom, Order, Justice')
Facts from the source article.
Monarchy
The first emblem used by an independent Tunisia was the beylical coat of arms, which was in official use from 1861 until June 21, 1956. On that date, a beylical decree adopted a new coat of arms for the Kingdom of Tunisia, which had become independent on March 20 of the same year. Although the beylical arms were formally adopted in 1861, they had been used well before that, appearing on the cover of a book by Henry Dunant published in 1858. The new kingdom’s coat of arms, established by the June 21 decree, features several elements.
On the right side is a black lion walking to the right, holding a silver sword, set against a red background. On the left side is a sand-colored scale on a gold background. Above these is a Carthaginian galley sailing on waves against a blue background. At the very top is the starry crescent of Tunisia.
The central design includes a trophy of two lances and crossed banners. At the bottom, the shield is supported by a wall crown made of sheaves of wheat on the right and olive branches on the left. The whole is tied with the plaque of National Merit, and a banner bears the motto: Freedom, Order, Justice. These arms retain some elements from the earlier beylical coat of arms. On September 13 of the same year, the plaque of the Order of Independence replaced the National Merit plaque.
Republic
After the abolition of the monarchy on 25 July 1957, the royal coat of arms remained that of the republican regime. The law of 30 May 1963 significantly modifies the coat of arms by removing the elements of the beylical coat of arms (spears and banners), reversing the locations of the scales and the lion, modifying the color of the background to gold, and changing the order of the national motto. The resulting design features a black scale on the right hand; a black lion turned sinister armed with a silver scimitar on the sinister; a motto on a gold banner with black inscription: Freedom, Order, Justice; a ship with a bistre hull, silver sails and flying red flags sailing on the azure sea; and crowned with the national emblem with a white circle containing a five-pointed red star surrounded by a red crescent.
The law of 2 September 1989 reverses the order of the national currency, returning to that of 1956: on the right, a lion facing left and armed with a silver scimitar; on the left, a black scale; the motto inscribed in black on a gold banner: Freedom, Order, Justice; in chief, a ship with a bistre hull, silver sails and flying red flags lashing on the azure sea; crowned with the national emblem with a white circle containing a five-pointed red star surrounded by a red crescent.
Following the adoption of the Constitution on 10 February 2014, its article 4 modifies the country's currency, leading to a competition launched by the Ministry of Culture for graphic design agencies to redesign the coat of arms, with a prize of 15,000 dinars for the selected project; a law must ratify the choice. In January 2015, the government of Béji Caïd Essebsi decided to keep the current coat of arms pending the adoption of a new project.
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