Representatives of the fauna world are becoming the main decoration of many heraldic symbols of cities and regions of Russia. So, the coat of arms of Saransk contains a red fox, and the red-haired beauty appeared on the symbol long ago, since the introduction of the first official symbol of the city.
Description of the heraldic sign
The modern coat of arms of Saransk is not much different from the first symbol received by the city in May 1781. It is a French shield painted in precious silver. The following elements are located on the shield: scarlet running fox; three vertical arrows, located above the predatory animal, points down.
An interesting point - a beautiful animal never left the main official symbol of this city, even in Soviet times. But this symbol has been explained in different ways over the centuries.
From the history of the Saransk coat of arms
Already on the very first official symbol of Saransk, a scarlet fox was depicted under arrows, and the animal was shown standing still, with a raised front paw, ready to move.
In Soviet times (since 1969), the animal changed its color. Then most of the field of the shield was depicted in scarlet color, the fox, respectively, became silver.
Another noteworthy fact is that during the years of Soviet power, for some reason, they began to call the fox doomed, since it was directly under the arrows. Therefore, the arrows were transformed into wires of an electric lamp, and a semicircular outline appeared, symbolizing the so-called Ilyich's lamp.
The interpretation has changed - the fox, from an animal doomed to death, has become a kind of spiral of an electric bulb. In this context, she symbolized the powerful energy that a person could tame. The national Mordovian ornament, placed in the upper field of the coat of arms, told about the history of the area.
In 1994, Saransk returned the historical coat of arms, but added two inscriptions: in the upper part of the shield, separated by a scarlet stripe, there was the name of the city written in scarlet color. At the bottom - the number "1641", symbolizing the date of the foundation of the settlement.
At the suggestion of the specialists of the Heraldic Council of Russia in 2005, these two fragments were removed, now the coat of arms of Saransk again resembles the first symbol of the city.
