Bulgarian Lion

[Tsontos]

Can we have some information about the Bulgarian lion which is now one of the most common, if not the most common, imagery used by skops today and also in Bulgaria of course.

From what Ive read over time Ive gathered that it was symbolic of 'Bulgarian Macedonia'. There used to be a Bulgarian site which showed that it was in use by Bulgarian czars since the 13th century including the short time when Bulgaria had a kingdom which included all of Macedonia but was short-lived thansk to Basil the Bulgar Slayer

I also heard a Serb claim once that it was not Bulgarian and that Bulgarian nationalists only re-adopted the symbol of Stefan Dusan in in the 19th century.

Can we have some info on its exact origins and usage? Akrita?



VMRO-DPMNE: Modern political party from FYROM, which has adopted the history of the Bulgarian revoltionary group the VMRO and Goce Delchev as part of its own “Macedonian history” http://www.vmro-dpmne.org.mk/english/index.asp )


modern Bulgarian right wing political party, the VMRO www.vmro.org) (http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/bg-polit.html)

[Tsontos]

banner of the Ilinden uprising:


This flag is commonly used in both FYROM and Bulgaria as is the red and black colours. Altough since they go their own 'country' and a new flag skopjians tend to use red and yellow (Preston, a skop soccer team in australia used red and black before 1991)

[akritas]

The FYROM’s lion is actually the Bulgarian lion, which is depicted in the Bulgarian Coat of Arms.As about the flags you can see a relative ariticle as about the connection of the FYROM and Bulgarian flag here

The golden Bulgarian lion on red ground is the traditional symbol of Bulgaria. He was in use in the national coat of arms even on the national flag since 1947, however on blue ground, escorted by communist heraldry. In the year 1990 he got removed from the national flag, and appears instead, pushing aside the communist red star, on the naval flag. The coat of arms of the People's Republic was adoped in 1946 and changed in details in 1948, 1967 and 1971. The basic structure of the flag was not concerned in this doing. In the year 1997 was introduced a new and civil coat of arms. The blazon is red, with the golden Bulgarian lion. The shield carrys a crown and is holded by two lions, which stand on oak twigs. Below a typeface ribbon in the colors fo the land with the inscription: "Svedinenieto pravi Silata" => "unity by power".

[Slayer]

While I was holidaying in Prague last year I went on a tour in the great castle,
St. Vitus Church and found out two interesting facts.

Firstly the tour guide advised us that Christianity was bought to the Slavic people by the Greeks, not the Macedonians so obviously they regard the two great monks from Thessaloniki as Greek.

Secondly, I took a photo inside the cathederal and one of the symbols on the wall is the Lion.
Acritas has been so kind to add this picture to this post as I have had trouble doing it. As you can clearly see, the Lion itself is an important symbol to the Czech people as well.




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[Slayer]

Thankyou Akritas for loading the pic.

Would anyone know what significance the Lion had to the Czech people?

[Slayer]

Czech and Slovakian Arms

Kingdom of Bohemia (12th c.-1918)
The historic arms of Bohemia appear in the late 12th c. It dates to 1158, and can be seen on the tomb of Ottokar I, first hereditary king of Bohemia, died 1230 (illustration in Neubecker). The arms of Moravia appear in the 13th c. Moravia was conquered in the 14th century, as was Silesia, but most of it was lost to Prussia after the War of Austrian Succession in 1748. The 2000 square miles left to the Habsburgs (who ruled Bohemia after 1526) were then known as "Austrian Silesia", with a capital in Opava (Troppau in German). Also, in the 14th-15th centuries, the Bohemian kings conquered Upper and Lower Lusatia.

lion.gif http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/cz-42-.html

Bohemia: gules, a lion rampant, queue fourchee argent, crowned (langued and armed) or. Crest: out of a ducal coronet, a pair of eagle's wings sable seme of linden leaves or.

A picture of this Czech symbol and a link to the above post can be found at
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/czech.htm