Today's Libya is one of the few countries on the planet that do not have an officially approved coat of arms. Instead, until 2012 (August), the emblem of the country's transitional government, which led the country after the fall of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, was used. Since 2013, the coat of arms of Libya has not been used, and instead a crescent moon and a golden star are depicted. The new coat of arms has not yet been approved due to political differences.
History of the coat of arms of Libya
The emergence of the country's first coat of arms is associated with the events of the twentieth century, namely, with the transfer of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica under the rule of Italy. She created her colony here - Italian Africa. Libya was soon established in these territories. In 1940, a new coat of arms was approved in Italian Libya. He had images of a palm tree, a laurel wreath, symbolizing freedom and the desire for independence.
The coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Libya was adopted in 1952. It had such distinctive elements:
- Figured cartouche with a royal crown.
- At the top of the coat of arms is a crescent and a star.
- In the middle of the cartouche is a black circle with nine pentagonal stars, together with a white crescent. This symbolism is associated with Islam.
In 1969, the coat of arms of the Libyan Arab Republic was approved. The coat of arms looked like an eagle of Saladin. In 1972, the Federation of Arab Republics was formed. The coat of arms of this state formation was proclaimed a hawk. At the bottom of the coat of arms there is a scroll with the inscription “Union of Arab Republics”.
The socialist Libyan Jamahiriya existed from 1977 to 2011. This state also had its own coat of arms in the form of a hawk, inside which there was a green shield. The hawk's head, unlike the previous coat of arms, was turned to the left. The inscription in the coat of arms was at the bottom. The hawk depicted on this coat of arms was the hawk of the Koreish, the emblem of the clan of Muhammad.
Emblem of the Libyan Transitional Council
These are two circles, between which there is an inscription in Arabic and English. The inner circle has images in red, green and black. They all form a crescent moon. Inside the same circle, there are three wavy stripes, as well as a pentagonal star. Currently, this emblem is not used, but instead a star and a crescent.
It is noteworthy that in the first version of such an emblem on the outer circle the inscription "Libya" was in Arabic, and on the inner one there was only an image of a crescent moon and a five-pointed star.
