The History of Lithuania through the prism of its state symbols
ENThe subject of this work is the historical path of development of the symbols of the Lithuanian state. Lithuania has its own way of development of heraldic symbols. The heraldry of Lithuania is characterized by the features of Slavic coats of arms and it harmoniously echoes the Polish heraldic school without losing its own identity. The Lithuanian state symbols are based on the Gediminas and Jagiellonian dynasties. Heraldry of Lithuania begins to form at the turn of XIII-XIV centuries. The basis of the state symbols fall the dynastic symbols - coat of arms against Kolumniy and the Jagiellonian coat of arms with the emblem Vytenis - Pogon (Vytís). Finally formed by the XV century coat of arms of Lithuania takes pride of place in the coat of arms of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and after the division thereof in the coat of arms of the Russian Empire. Lithuania throughout its history remained faithful to its historical coat of arms, so losing it for 50 years of the Soviet period, it regains its legitimate coat of arms in the early 90-ies of XX century. The history of the flag of the state of Lithuania is more chaotic. The search for a single national flag began in the troubled time of the first quarter of the XX century. The flag of the Republic was a more controversial symbol than the emblem of the state. The study used the cultural, historical and ethnographic method of research. This made it possible to determine the common ethno-cultural origins of the peoples of Lithuania and their symbols. The historical-comparative method, along with the historical-genetic method, allowed to build the trajectory of the state symbols. The main conclusions of the article are that the coat of arms of Lithuania corresponds to its historical background, made according to the rules of heraldry.It is worth noting that Lithuania is one of the few CIS countries has state standards describing the coat of arms and flag, which indicates the high development of heraldic culture in the country. The situation is more complicated with the flag of the Republic. The flag was based on symbols adopted in the troubled period, which led to disputes. The flag of Lithuania is not combined with the coat of arms and requires significant understanding.
