3. Ознакомьтесь с содержанием данного текстового материала и ответьте на следующие вопросы:
1. What information in the text was new for you?
2. Is this material actual and up-to-date? Give your comments.
3. Why do you think that it is important for a student to know additional material?
The coat of arms of the Russian Federation derives from the earlier coat of arms of the Russian Empire, as restored in 1993. Though modified more than once since the reign ofIvan III (1462–1505), the current coat of arms is directly derived from its mediaeval original. The general colour layout corresponds to the early fifteenth century standard. The shape of the eagle can be traced back to the reign of Peter the Great (1682–1725), although the eagle charge on the present coat of arms is golden rather than the traditional, imperial black.
Between 17 May 1992 and 30 November the following year, the arms of the Russian Federation was a slightly modified version of the Russian arms from the Soviet era.
The two main elements of Russian state symbols (the two-headed eagle and the mounted figure slaying the dragon) predate Peter the Great. Today, however, the official description does not refer to the rider on the central shield as representing Saint George, mainly in order to maintain the secular character of the modern Russian state.
The current coat of arms was adopted officially on November 30, 1993. Today, the imperial crowns on each head stand for the unity and sovereignty of Russia , both as a whole and in its constituent republics and regions. The orb and scepter grasped in the eagle's toes are traditional heraldic symbols of sovereign power and authority. They have been retained in the modern Russian arms despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a monarchy, which led to objections by the Communists even though both the blue ribbon and the collar of the Order of St. Andrew (which in the imperial arms supported the three crowns and surrounded the central shield) have been removed from the current coat of arms.
The modern arms of Russia were instated by a presidential decree in 1993, and then by a federal law signed by President Vladimir Putin on December 20, 2000.
Some Historical Versions
The heraldic device of Russia has gone through three major periods in its history, undergoing major changes in the transitions between the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation . They date back to 1472, when Ivan III began using the double-headed eagle in his seal, which, along with the image of St. George slaying a dragon, have been common in the coat of arms since. The coat of arms were changed in 1918 with the creation of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and depicted communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle and the red star. The current coat of arms, in use since 1993, once again has the two-headed eagle with the image of St. George.1721–1917:
1721–1917: The Russian Empire
The Russian Empire had a coat of arms, displayed in either its greater, middle and lesser version.
The use of the double-headed eagle as a Russian coat of arms goes back to the 15th century. With the fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Grand Dukes of Muscovy came to see themselves as the successors of the Byzantine heritage. Ivan III adopted the golden Byzantine double-headed eagle in his seal, first documented in 1472. In 1497 it was stamped on a charter of share and allotment of independent princes' possessions. At about the same time, the image of a gilt, double-headed eagle on a red background appeared on the walls of the Palace of Facets in the Moscow Kremlin. The other main Russian coat of arms, the image of St George slaying the dragon, is contemporaneous. In its first form, as a rider armed with a spear, it is found in the seal of Vasili I of Moscow in 1390. At the time of Ivan III, the dragon was added, but the final association with Saint George was not made until 1730, when it was described as such in an Imperial decree. Eventually, St George became the patron saint of Moscow and of Russia).
After the assumption of the title of Tsar IV by Ivan IV, the two coats are found combined, with the eagle bearing an escutcheon depicting St George on the breast. With the establishment of the Moscow Patriarchate in 1589, a patriarchal cross was added for a time between the heads of the eagle.
In the beginning of the 17th century, with the ascension of the Romanov dynasty and its contacts with Western Europe, the image of the eagle changed. In 1625 for the first time the two-headed eagle appeared with three crowns. Traditionally, the latter have been associated with the conquered kingdoms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia, or as standing for the unity of Great Russia ( Russia), Little Russia (the Ukraine) and White Russia (Belarus). Probably under influence from its German equivalent, the eagle, was designed with spread wings and holding a sceptre and orb in its claws. During the reign of Peter the Great, further changes were made. The collar of the newly established the Order of Saint Andrew was added around the central escutcheon. At about this time, the eagle's colour was changed from golden to black, which would be retained until the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. A final form for the eagle was adopted by imperial decree in 1729, and remained virtually unchanged until 1853.
During the early 19th century, the eagle designs diversified, and two different variants were adopted by Emperor Nicholas I. The first type represented the eagle with spread wings, one crown, with an image of St. George on the breast and with a wreath and a thunderbolt in its claws. The second type followed the 1730 pattern, with the addition of the arms of Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia on its left wing and those of Poland, the Taurica and Finland on the right one.
1918–1992: Russian SFSR
The coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was adopted on 10 July 1918 by the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and modified several times afterwards. It shows wheat as the symbol of agriculture, a rising sun for the future of the Russian nation, the red star (the RSFSR was the last Soviet Republic to include the star in its state emblem, in 1978) as well as the hammer and the sickle for the victory o f Communism and the "world-wide socialist community of states".
The Soviet Union state motto ("Workers of the world,unite!) in Russian (Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! — Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes!) was also a part of the coat of arms.
In 1992 the inscription was changed from RSFSR (РСФСР) to the Russian Federation (Российская Федерация) in connection with the change of the name of the state In 1993, the Communist design was replaced by the present coat of arms (see the top of this article).
Примечание. Выделенные слова должны стать ссылками на словарь.
TEXT 4
MOSCOW