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Debrecen’s coat of arms has undergone several changes throughout its history. The earliest depiction dates back to the late Middle Ages, when it served as a crucial symbol for the citizens.
Debrecen’s first known coat of arms, dating from 1560, already refers to the Reformation: the leading figure is a lamb holding a flag with its right foot, looking backward at it.
In 1600, during King Rudolf’s reign, the feet of the lamb were placed on the two books representing the Old and New Testaments, and the town’s printing culture was supplemented with the figure of the phoenix bird, with its wings outstretched, looking into the sun and rising from the fire. The phoenix symbolises the renewal of the city from all calamities and destruction.
When Leopold I granted the city the status of a free royal town in 1693, he had the newly redesigned coat of arms drawn on the Leopoldinum diploma, with a palm tree behind the lamb, the phoenix looking into the shining sun and rich ornaments around the coat of arms. The palm tree symbolises the city, which gains strength from the burdens, while the sun represents the divine providence guarding the town.
Through the close relationship between the city and the Reformed Church, this coat of arms became the unified symbol of the Reformed Church in Hungary years before the formation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1877.
The arms were used until the 1950s, when the city adopted a more ‘modern’ communist logo. Only in 1989 the old arms were restored.
As you walk on Kossuth Square, you can also come across a unique coat of arms of the city, which was made of coloured mosaic cubes rising from the paving. The composition has 24 different shades of colour. The coat of arms is made of 180,000 Venetian glass mosaics, each 1 cm wide and 8 mm thick, produced in Vicenza. Like the renovated Kossuth Square, the mosaic was inaugurated on 7 July 2001.
The coat of arms is an enduring symbol of local pride and identity, often displayed during significant city events and celebrations. The emblem also plays a key role in official documents, representing the rights and privileges of the city’s inhabitants.
Sources: utazzitthon | wiki
