Coat of arms of Poland

Coat of arms of Poland
ArmigerRepublic of Poland
Adoptedc. 1000; current design from 1927, last modified on 29 December 1989
ShieldGules, an eagle argent, armed, crowned and beaked or, langued argent

The coat of arms of Poland is a white, crowned eagle with a golden beak and talons, on a red background.

In Poland, the coat of arms as a whole is referred to as godło both in official documents and colloquial speech,[1] despite the fact that other coats of arms are usually called a herb (e.g. the Nałęcz herb or the coat of arms of Finland). This stems from the fact that in Polish heraldry, the word godło (plural: godła) means only a heraldic charge (in this particular case a white crowned eagle) and not an entire coat of arms, but it is also an archaic word for a national symbol of any sort.[2] In later legislation only the herb retained this designation; it is unknown why.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference act was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ (in Polish) Ustawa z dnia 1 sierpnia 1919 r. o godłach i barwach Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej Archived 2017-09-17 at the Wayback Machine[Symbols and Colors of the Republic of Poland Act, 1st of August 1919] Dz.U. 1919 nr 69 poz. 416