Penza is a city with a population of about 520 thousand inhabitants, the administrative center of the region of the same name. The history of the city is perfectly emphasized by the emblem of Penza. What does this symbol mean? How long has he appeared? You will learn about this from our article.
Penza: a brief biography of the city
The river, on the banks of which this city was founded, was called Penza. Most researchers suggest that this hydronym has Indo-Iranian roots. "Fiery river" - so literally you can translate it. However, it is not entirely clear why the river was given such a name.
The city of Penza was founded in 1663 as a fortress, the purpose of which was to protect cities and villages from the periodic devastating raids of the Golden Horde nomads. And therefore, the first settlers of Penza were precisely the Cossacks, who were allocated with large land plots.
For over a century Penza remained an exclusively military settlement. The heyday of the city fell on the era of the reign of Catherine the Great. At this time, the border with the rebellious Wild Field pushed far to the south, and the city itself was gradually turning into a large agricultural center. It was then that the coat of arms of Penza appeared with the image of three wheat sheaves.
Today, Penza is a multinational city in which Christians, Jews, Muslims and even pagans peacefully coexist. In this important industrial center there are about three dozen enterprises that produce various types of products: from small parts to steel pipes.
Coat of arms of Penza: description
The symbolism of the city is made according to all the rules of heraldry, based on the principle of continuity of the historical traditions of the territory.
The coat of arms of the city of Penza is rather unusual, since it is based on a traditional green shield, which depicts three sheaves. One of them is composed of wheat ears, the second is composed of barley, and the third is millet. All sheaves neatly stand on a small hill of golden color.
Thus, the emblem of Penza very successfully emphasizes the main historical feature of this region, namely, developed agriculture.
The history of the coat of arms of Penza
It is known that the idea of the city coat of arms was borrowed from the military emblem of the Penza regiment, drawn up in 1730. Based on this, the Penza coat of arms is one of the oldest city emblems of Russia. But it was approved in May 1781. In the same year, a dozen more cities in this province received their symbols.
It was under this emblem that the Penza regiments fought in the Russo-Turkish war.
With the advent of Soviet power, Penza received its new characters. But in this particular case, the city was lucky - the renewed emblem of Penza turned out to be quite successful and adequate (which can not be said about the Soviet emblems of other cities). It retained the image of three sheaves, but they added an anchor watch wheel (in the days of the USSR, Penza was famous for producing good watches) and a swallow as a symbol of a happy and promising future.
The Soviet version of the coat of arms was so successful and beautiful that the inhabitants of Penza after the collapse of the superpower could not immediately say goodbye to it. Nevertheless, in 2002, the townspeople nevertheless regained their historical coat of arms of the 1781 model.
Coat of arms of Penza and its meaning
In the city emblem of the city of Penza there is a lot of gold color - all the sheaves and the hill under them. Gold in heraldry always symbolizes abundance, wealth, prosperity and wealth. Therefore, it is unlikely that the residents of Penza should complain about this.
In addition to the golden tones, the emblem also has a green color - a heraldic shield. It, in turn, symbolizes joy, nature and hopes for a brighter future (in the Soviet version, the swallow successfully performed this role).
The coat of arms of Penza is precisely the case when the historical traditions and features of the territory are fully taken into account. After all, it was developed in the XVIII century. Three golden sheaves of wheat, millet and barley symbolize the wealth of the city, and also remind that Penza was once a large agricultural center.
Penza flag and its description
Another national symbol is the flag. This attribute is based on the city coat of arms - the same three sheaves are present on the panel.
The Penza flag was officially approved in the fall of 2004. Here is his description: on a rectangular panel of standard parameters (2: 3) sheaves of golden color are depicted - wheat, barley and millet. The canvas itself is green, bordered on the left by a vertical gold stripe, which is located along the shaft.
Unlike the coat of arms, sheaves on the flag are not located on a hill, but hang in the air in the center of the green part of the canvas.
