November 1, Lepel /Own. inf./. A windmill, a black hare, a silver water lily… Is it possible to combine this animate and inanimate world into a homogeneous series? It turns out, it is possible and easy.
November 1, Lepel /Own. inf./. A windmill, a black hare, a silver water lily… Is it possible to combine this animate and inanimate world into a homogeneous series? It turns out, it is possible and easy. For example, if you look at the coats of arms of the Vitebsk region: they are their main elements. Visitors to the heraldry exhibition, recently opened at the "Skarbonka" Crafts House, became convinced of this.
The exhibition was presented by Sergey Rublevsky, Deputy Head of the Main Justice Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee – Head of the Department for Archives and Records Management. This person knows firsthand what thoughtful and meticulous work archivists have to do before a city gets its coat of arms – from studying historical material to preparing a draft Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus. As in ancient times, today the head of state has the final decision on the adoption of a coat of arms, even for the smallest village. However, before that, it must be approved at all levels – from local to republican.
The main goals of the exhibition are to demonstrate the diversity of official symbols of our region, as well as to promote patriotic education. Coats of arms are of great value; they preserve the memory of the ancestors who lived on this land, and they connect the past and the present. "Coats of Arms of the Vitebsk Region" – there are now 42 of them – were first seen by residents of the cities where state archives are located – Polotsk, Glubokoye, Orsha, Vitebsk. And Sergey Vasilyevich brings this exhibition to his small homeland – the Lepel region.
Heraldry is a complex science, living by its own laws. And just by looking at its symbolism, it is not always possible to correctly grasp the embedded meaning. Moreover, coats of arms must be able to be read. Sergey Vasilyevich tried to teach this to the eleventh-graders of Secondary School No. 1 during the exhibition presentation. At an improvised heraldry lesson, the children learned that the basis of any coat of arms is a shield. And there are several types of them, differing in shape. Some of the most common are Spanish, French, and Varangian. It also turns out that the left-right of the coat of arms does not coincide with the viewer's sides. Heraldry retains the tradition of looking at the shield through the eyes of the knight holding it.
While the exact date of their origin cannot be definitively stated, their widespread use is associated with the Crusades, which began in 1096. By donning armour from head to toe, knights left no chance for others to identify them, not only from afar but also up close. Therefore, it was coats of arms that became the "identification" marks: they indicated where the knight was from, his lineage, and his merits. At knightly tournaments, there were even "specialists" whose duty was to "read" the heraldic information and present the knight to the public based on it. These connoisseurs were called "heralds".
Simply denoting the colours of a coat of arms was not enough, even for the heraldists of that time. For example, how could one emphasize strength with red if only a black-and-white image was available? The Italian Jesuit Silvester Petra Sancta devised a method for this in the 17th century. His method of hatching – the conventional representation of colour using black lines – is still used today. Thanks to it, one can learn what a historical coat of arms looked like, as well as pass on information about the current one to future generations. The main thing is not to make a mistake when deciphering these lines. For instance, not to confuse green and purple: both are represented by diagonals that merely "look" in opposite directions.
Looking at the coats of arms of the Vitebsk region, one understands that the geographical factor is often taken as a basis for their creation. The fact that our region is a land of lakes and rivers is confirmed by the blue colour used on many coats of arms, and an element like a ship is also repeated. A significant event from the past is also often reflected in coats of arms. Incidentally, the "motif" of Lepel's coat of arms coincides with the heraldic symbols of the Vitebsk region – the armed horseman is in the centre of both the coat of arms and the flag.
There are, of course, differences: one of them is the five teeth of the crown on the Vitebsk coat of arms compared to the three on Lepel's. A crown with three teeth was awarded to cities with a population of less than 50,000 people. The Lepel coat of arms, approved in 1852 by Emperor Nicholas II, was given new life in 2009.
At the end of the meeting, Sergey Vasilievich presented the Director of the House of Crafts with the first heraldry book ever published in the Vitebsk region, "Heraldic Wreath of Vitebsk Region," issued in 2010. This book includes descriptions of 37 coats of arms and 26 flags of the administrative-territorial units of the region, explains the use of colour schemes in heraldry, main figures, and different types of shields. The Director of the House of Crafts thanked the guest for the exhibition presentation and presented souvenirs as a memento. The exhibition, which is unusual for our district, will run until early November.
Ekaterina OSOVSKAYA
In the photo: Sergey Vasilievich explains the difference between the coat of arms of the Vitebsk region and the coat of arms of our city.
