Heraldry has at least three meanings: the system of rules for creation and usage of the coats of arms; the science of researching that system and its history; the multitude of coats of arms, appointed by certain criteria. It is a social and cultural phenomenon, which arose in the West European feudal society, probably after the influence of the Orient. Subsequently along with the European cultural invasion, it spread out over the world.

As a system of symbols, a transmission of information in the society, the heraldry is not only the text of tournaments, but also a metatext of relations between liberty (with the right to bear arms), possession (and its inheritance) and identity (and its announcement). Only the free men, e. g. the subjects of law, are armigers, and the procedure of granting and adopting arms is regulated by higher heraldry authorities. Because of that, the coat of arms is a law object and the most important mark of identification. At the same time, the combination of symbol with image associate heraldry with both science and art.

In Bulgaria heraldry stands on a very low level and one of the reasons for that is the social insensitiveness to such European social and cultural phenomenon.

The aim of these pages is to provoke interest and to call attention to the development of the heraldry in Bulgaria, as well as, to give rise to scientific debate and to create a net of people interested in those topics.

 

Up • STATE • ROYAL • PERSONAL • ECCLESIASTIC • CIVIC • CORPORATIVE

Up • NEWS • MEMBERS • HERALDRY • VEXILLOLOGY • ARTICLES & PROJECTS • GALLERIES • REGISTER OF ARMS • LINKS