Penza's coat of arms: description and meaning

Penza is a city with a population of about 520 thousand inhabitants, the administrative center of the same area. The history of the city is best emphasized by the coat of arms of Penza. What does this symbol mean? How long had he appeared? You will learn about this from our article.

Penza: brief biography of the city

The river on whose banks this city was founded was called Penza. Most researchers suggest that this hydronym has Indo-Iranian roots. "Fiery River" - so literally you can translate it. However, it is not entirely clear why the river was given such a name.

The city of Penza was founded in 1663 as a fortress, the purpose of which was to protect towns and villages from the periodic devastating raids of nomads of the Golden Horde. And so the first settlers of Penza were exactly the Cossacks, who were given large land plots.

For more than a century, Penza remained an exclusively military settlement. The heyday of the city fell on the reign of Catherine the Great. At this time, the border with the rebelling Wild Field is being moved away to the south, and the city itself is gradually turning into a large agricultural center. It was then that the Penza emblem appeared with the image of three wheat sheaves.

Today Penza is a multinational city in which Christians, Jews, Muslims and even pagans peacefully coexist. In this important industrial center there are about three dozens of enterprises that produce different types of products: from small parts to steel pipes.

Penza's coat of arms: description

The symbolism of the city is fulfilled by all the rules of heraldry, proceeding from the principle of continuity of the historical traditions of the territory.

The coat of arms of the city of Penza is quite unusual, because it is based on a traditional green shield, on which three sheaves are depicted. One of them is composed of wheat ears, the second is made up of barley, and the third is made of millet. All sheaves neatly stand on a small hill of golden color.

Thus, the coat of arms of Penza very successfully emphasizes the main historical feature of this region, namely, developed agriculture.

History of the coat of arms of Penza

It is known that the idea of the city coat of arms was borrowed from the military emblem of the Penza regiment, compiled in 1730. Proceeding from this, the coat of arms of Penza is one of the oldest city coats of arms of Russia. But it was approved in May 1781. In the same year, a dozen cities in this province received their symbols.

It was under this coat of arms that the Penza regiments fought in the Russian-Turkish war.

With the advent of Soviet power, Penza received its new symbols. But in this particular case the city was lucky - the updated coat of arms of Penza turned out to be quite successful and adequate (which you can not say about the Soviet emblems of other cities). It preserved the image of three sheaves, but they added an anchor watch wheel (during the USSR Penza was famous for producing good watches) and a swallow, as a symbol of a happy and promising future.

The Soviet version of the coat of arms was so successful and beautiful that the residents of Penza after the collapse of the superpower could not immediately say goodbye. Nevertheless, in 2002, the townspeople still regained the historical coat of arms of the sample in 1781.

Penza's coat of arms and its meaning

In the city coat of arms of the city of Penza there is a lot of golden color - all sheaves and a hill under them. Gold in heraldry always symbolizes abundance, wealth, prosperity and wealth. Therefore, it is unlikely that residents of Penza should complain about this.

In addition to the golden tones, there is also a green color on the coat of arms - a heraldic shield. It, in turn, symbolizes joy, nature and hopes for a bright future (in the Soviet version, this role was successfully carried out by the swallow).

Penza's coat of arms is just the case when historical traditions and features of the territory are fully taken into account. After all, it was developed in the XVIII century. Three gold sheaves of wheat, millet and barley symbolize the prosperity of the city, and also recall that Penza was once a major agricultural center.

Flag of Penza and its description

Another national symbol is the flag. At the heart of this attribute lies the city coat of arms - all three of the same sheaves are on the cloth.

The flag of Penza was officially approved in the autumn of 2004. Here is his description: on a rectangular panel of standard parameters (2: 3), sheaves of golden color - wheat, barley and millet. The canvas itself is green, bordered on the left by a vertical golden strip, which is located along the shaft.

Unlike the coat of arms, on the flag the sheaves are not located on a hill, but seem to hang in the air in the center of the green part of the canvas.

Conclusion

So, from this article you learned that Penza is a large Russian city with a population of over half a million people. Today, steel pipes, various equipment, bicycles and medicines are produced here. However, earlier this area was famous for its beautiful wheat fields. And it is this peculiarity of the city that is reflected in its official coat of arms and flag.