Coat of arms of Serbia

Lore & Background

The double-headed eagle dates back to the 11th century, appearing on inscriptions, medieval frescoes, and embroidery of Byzantine and Serbian royalty. Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja was among the first in Serbia to use the symbol, and the Nemanjić dynasty used it as its coat of arms. The surviving golden ring of Queen Teodora (1321–1322) has the symbol engraved. During the reign of Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1345), the eagle was used on everyday objects and state documents. In 1339, map-maker Angelino Dulcert marked the Serbian Empire with a flag bearing a red double-headed eagle. The symbol was officially adopted by Stefan Lazarević after he received the title of despot from Manuel II Palaiologos in 1402.

Reader's Guide

The coat of arms of Serbia is significant as a national symbol representing the identity of the Serbian state and people across centuries. Its use of the double-headed eagle and Serbian cross connects modern Serbia to its medieval heritage, particularly the Nemanjić dynasty and the Serbian Empire. The inclusion of the historical crown, mantle, and pavillon in the greater coat of arms retains strong monarchist elements, distinguishing it from other republican coats of arms. The lesser coat of arms is widely used on national flags, public documents, and uniforms, while the greater coat of arms appears on buildings of high state institutions. The current design is based on the 1882 coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbia, readopted in 2004 and standardized by 2010.

Did You Know?

• The Serbian cross with firesteels was removed from the coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Serbia in 1947, leaving only four stylised firesteels.
• The double-headed eagle was engraved at the entrance of the Žiča monastery, the seat of the Archbishop of the Serbs between 1219–1253.
• The Serbian cross first appeared as the Serbian coat of arms in the 16th-century Korenić-Neorić armorial, predating Pavao Ritter Vitezović's Stemmatografia (1701).
• The crown on the coat of arms is a heraldic symbol of Serbian statehood, but its specific decoration with pearls, sapphires, and rubies is not part of the official blazon.

Heraldic Composition and Visual Language

The emblem of the Serbian state is built around a silver, stylised double-headed eagle set against a red shield, with a golden crown hovering above. The eagle's two heads, each bordered by nine feathers, turn outward toward the shield's edges, their golden beaks open wide. The neck feathers are organised into four neat rows of seven, while the outstretched wings—arranged in four rows of seven, nine, seven, and seven feathers respectively—combine with the tail and heads to form a cross shape. Golden legs stretch diagonally across the shield, each claw grasping a fleur-de-lis, with seven white feathers on the legs. The tail carries seven rounded-tip feathers in three rows along the vertical axis. At the eagle's breast sits a small red semicircular shield, quartered by a white cross, each quadrant holding a white firesteel oriented outward. The crown itself is golden, studded with forty white pearls, eight blue sapphires, and two red rubies, and is topped by a small cross.

Byzantine Roots and Dynastic Adoption

The double-headed eagle's presence in Serbian heraldry stretches back to the eleventh century, where it surfaces in inscriptions, medieval frescoes, and royal embroidery shared between Byzantine and Serbian courts. Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, ruler from 1166 to 1196, was among the earliest Serbian figures to employ the symbol, and the Nemanjić dynasty he founded carried it as their dynastic emblem. A surviving golden ring belonging to Queen Teodora, dated 1321 to 1322, bears the eagle in engraving. Under Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1345), the motif migrated onto everyday objects and official documents, including tax stamps and royal proclamations. In 1339, the cartographer Angelino Dulcert depicted the Serbian Empire with a red double-headed eagle flag. Later noble houses, the Mrnjavčević and Lazarević, continued the tradition. Prince Lazar had the eagle carved into the northern wall of Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos. Stefan Lazarević formally adopted the symbol in 1402 after receiving the Byzantine title of despot from John VII Palaiologos in Constantinople. The Serbian Orthodox Church also embraced it, engraving the eagle on the entrance of Žiča monastery, the traditional coronational church of Serbian kings.

The Cross, the Firesteels, and Contested Origins

The four firesteels surrounding a cross—often called the Serbian cross—may trace their lineage to a Byzantine imperial emblem seen on late Palaiologan-era flags, though as a Byzantine motif it could be far older. Serbian historian Stanoje Stanojević contends the cross was formally embraced as a national symbol as early as 1345, coinciding with Stefan Dušan's elevation to emperor. Stojan Novaković, by contrast, places the earliest recorded national use in 1397, during Stefan Lazarević's rule, and suggests the design may have been inspired by a candle chandelier at Visoki Dečani. The symbol appears in the 1595 Korenić-Neorić Armorial as a white cross on a red-and-gold field, and the sixteenth-century writer Mavro Orbini attributed it to Vukašin Mrnjavčević and Prince Lazar. Its first printed appearance as a Serbian coat of arms came in Pavao Ritter Vitezović's Stemmatografia of 1701, after which the Serbian church began incorporating it. Prince Miloš Obrenović made it the official emblem of the Principality of Serbia in 1838. It has appeared on every subsequent Serbian coat of arms except the 1947 Socialist Republic version, where Yugoslav authorities removed the cross, leaving only the four firesteels.

Republican Form, Monarchist Substance

Serbia's constitution, specifically Article 7, mandates two versions of the national emblem: the greater coat of arms and the lesser coat of arms. The lesser version is simply the red shield bearing the golden crown—a design long used by Serbian states and the Serbian church since the Middle Ages as an inescutcheon. The greater coat of arms adds a porphyry mantle embroidered in gold, trimmed with gold fringes, secured by a gold cord with matching tassels, lined with ermine, and itself crowned with a golden crown. The inclusion of a crown on a republic's heraldry is unusual but not unique; Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and San Marino all feature crowns on their republican emblems. What distinguishes Serbia, however, is the persistence of overtly monarchist elements—the mantle and pavillon—that are characteristic of the greater coats of arms of modern and historical monarchies, yet largely absent from the heraldry of other European republics.

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