User:Kpalion/Coat of arms of Poland

Coat of arms of Poland

Infobox
Template:Infobox coat of arms

Lead
The White Eagle (Polish: Orzeł Biały) is the national coat of arms of Poland. It is a stylized white eagle with a golden beak and talons, and wearing a golden crown, in a red shield.

Legal sources
The coat of arms of the Republic of Poland are described in two legal documents: the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997, and the Coat of Arms, Colors and Anthem of the Republic of Poland, and State Seals Act (Ustawa o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz o pieczęciach państwowych) of 1980 with subsequent amendments (henceforth referred to as "the Coat of Arms Act").

Legislation concerning the national symbols is far from perfect. The Coat of Arms Act has been amended several times and refers extensively to executive ordinances, some of which have never been issued. Moreover, the Act contains errors, omissions and inconsistencies which make the law confusing, open to various interpretations and often not followed in practice.

Elements of the coat of arms
According to Chapter I, Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, the coat of arms of Poland is an image of a crowned white eagle in a red field. The Coat of Arms Act, Article 4, further specifies that the crown, as well as the eagle's beak and talons, are golden. The eagle's wings are outstretched (displayed) and its head is turned to its right. Using English heraldic terminology, the arms may blazoned as Gules an Eagle Argent crowned, beaked and armed Or. However, unlike in traditional heraldry where the same blazon may be rendered into various graphical designs, the Coat of Arms Act allows only one official rendering of the national coat of arms. The official design may be found in attachment no. 1 to the Coat of Arms Act.

The nearly circular charge, i.e. the image of the white eagle, is highly stylized. The heraldic bird is depicted with its wings and legs outstretched, its head turned to the right, in a pose know in heraldry as displayed. The eagle's plumage, as well as tongue and leg scales are white with gradient shading suggestive of a bas-relief. On each wing there is curved strap going from the bird's torso along the upper edge of each wing and terminated with a five-pointed mullet (star). Each mullet has three larger and two smaller arms. The beak and talons are the only golden parts of the eagle's body. The crown on the eagle's head consists of a base and three fleurons extending from it. The base is adorned with three rougly rectangular gemstones. The fleurons – of which the two outer ones are only partly visible – have the shape of a fleur-de-lis. The entire crown, including the gems, as well as spaces between the fleurons, is painted gold.

The charge is placed in an escutcheon (shield) of the Modern French type. It is a nearly rectangular upright isosceles trapezoid, rounded at the bottom, whose upper base is slightly longer than the lower one, from the middle of which extends downwards a pointed tip. Although the shield is part of the coat of arms, Polish law stipulates, in certain cases, to only use the charge without the escutcheon. The shades of the principal tinctures, white (Argent) and red (Gules), which are the national colors of Poland, are specified as coördinated in the CIE 1976 color space (see Flag of Poland – National colors for details).

Structure

 * Lead
 * Design
 * Use
 * Seals
 * Signs
 * Documents
 * Coins and notes
 * History
 * Origins
 * Legend of Lech, Imperial eagles, Arms of the Piasts
 * Changing styles
 * Elements of the coat of arms: shield, eagle, cloverstalks, crown, royal initials, crest
 * Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicist styles
 * The Eagle and the Pursuer
 * Lesser, Medium and Greater Arms of the PLC; Arms of the elecetive kings; Order of the White Eagle
 * Time of Partitions
 * Arms imposed by foreign powers: Duchy of Warsaw, Grand Duchy of Posen, Congress Kingdom
 * Development of military eagles
 * Popular designs: November, Krakow, January Uprisings
 * Towards the current design
 * 1916 and 1919 designs
 * 1927 design by Kamiński
 * Crownless Eagle
 * Democratic and socialist traditions since mid-19th cent., the "Kurica", arms of the People's Rep. of Poland
 * Recent changes
 * Restoration of the crown, modified mullets on the wings
 * Related and similar symbols

Gallery
1. Gothic Eagle of King Premislaus, ca. 1295 2. Gothic Eagle of King Ladislaus I, ca. 1320 3. Gothic Eagle of King Casimir III, ca. 1335 4. Late Gothic Eagle of King Ladislaus II, ca. 1434 5. Renaissance Eagle with King Sigismund I's initial "S", ca. 1533 6. Renaissance Eagle with King Stephens's initial "S", ca. 1588 7. Baroque arms of King Sigismund III, 1611 8. Classicist Eagle of King Stanislaus Augustus, 1771 9. Eagle from former King Stanislaus I's brochure, 1749 10. Arms of the Duchy of Warsaw, 1806 11. Arms of the "Congress" Kingdom of Poland, 1815 12. Arms used during the January Uprising, 1863 13. Arms of the Republic of Poland, 1919 14. New design, 1927 15. Communist crownless Eagle, 1980 16. Current design, 1990]]

