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The Coat of Arms of Penza city established
28 May (8 June) 1781 the Russian Empress Catherine II approved the Coat of Arms of Penza city – one of the oldest one in Russia.
Some Russian lands had their symbols as far back as in the Middle Ages, but the full-blown system of territorial coats of arms did not appear until 18th century when many cities obtained a new administrative and political status. Penza, having transformed from a provincial town to the centre of the new established Penza region ruled by governor-general, had to have its own coat of arms.
In order to compose a coat of arms for Penza city, Penza viceroyalty and later Penza Governorate, the image of three sheaves was borrowed from the Penza regiment emblem. Emblems of army regiments were composed by an employee of King-of-arms office, Italian Count Francis Santee, and recorded into Banner Armorial, approved in 1730 by the Senate. In the reign of Catherine II, King of Arms, Alexander Volkov completed the image shaping it into a coat of arms and introduced it into a classic Armorial of 1781.
The exact heraldic description of the coat of arms read: "In a green field, on a golden land there are three sheaves – of wheat, barley and millet. These are also present on all the coats of arms’ shields belonging to Penza viceroyalty”. The image symbolized wealth and developed agriculture in the region.
In 1964, the City Executive Committee developed a new heraldic symbol of the city of Penza. From pre-revolutionary images remained three sheaves of grain crops, whose image had taken a more abstract form. The sheaves tied together with a ribbon were shifted to the bottom of the coat of arms and became a support for the symbol of the growing industrial power of Penza – a golden anchor wheel of clockwork with a black silhouette of a flying swallow in its center.
At the beginning of the new millennium, Penza City Council resolved to restore the historic city emblem. The Action Group considered various options, chose as an official coat of arms the emblem of 1781 pattern, which is now used as the official symbol of Penza.
Lit.: В чём различие между гербами Пензы и области? // Аргументы и факты. 2008. 12-18 марта (№ 11); Герб города Пензы [Электронный ресурс] // Официальный сайт Администрации города Пензы. 2016. URL: https://www.penza-gorod.ru/city/symbols/; Гербы Пензенского Наместничества // Полное собрание законов Российской империи, с 1649 года. Собрание 1-е. Книга чертежей и рисунков: (гербы городов). СПб., 1859. Л. 62—64; Годин. В. Визитная карточка города // Сура. 1996. № 3; Решение Пензенской городской Думы о гербе города Пенза [Электронный ресурс] // Государственные символы России: история и реальность. 1999-2016. URL: http://project.rsl.ru/index.php?doc=948; Савин О. «В зелёном поле три снопа...» // Пензенская правда. 1994. 20 янв.; Харлова. Л. В трёх снопах не заблудиться // Мир людей. 1999. 28 апр. (№ 5); Шишкин И. Исторические корни пензенского герба // Сура. 2003. № 4.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Гербовник знамен Российской империи... 1730-1778.;
Полное собрание законов Российской империи, с 1649 года. СПб., 1830. Т. 21. № 15165. С. 128-129.
The material is prepared with the support of Penza M. Yu. Lermontov Regional Library