From Hungarian Symbol to Slovak Coat of Arms

v. Balázs Róbert
Jul 5
4 min read

Where do the double cross and the triple mount originate?

When national identity began to emerge among a narrow circle of Slovak intellectuals in the first decades of the 19th century, the creation of national symbols also became necessary. The Slovak coat of arms was designed in 1848 by Ľudovít Štúr, the leading figure of the forming Slovak nation, along with his ideological companions, by making a heraldically correct modification of the Hungarian state coat of arms featuring the double cross and triple mount. They only changed the colour of the triple mount from green to blue, in accordance with Slavic colours. This symbol first appeared in 1861 as the coat of arms of the planned autonomous Slovak district, then in 1863 on the cover of the statutes of Matica slovenská (Slovak Mother, the Slovak cultural, scientific and fine arts society).

Mistake or Intentional?

The Hungarian coat of arms in the form still used today in Hungary first appeared on coins issued by King Władysław I of Hungary (1440–1444), depicting a silver cross on a triple mount. The concept of representing the country’s territory through the state coat of arms was later reflected in a novel interpretation of the triple mount: in 1687, a Portuguese author, Anton Macedo, interpreted the triple mount as symbolising Hungary’s three largest mountains (without naming them). In the 18th century, the emerging Hungarian heraldic literature identified them as the Tatras, the Fatra and the Mátra. This geographical view led the Slovaks to the mistaken conclusion that one half of the Hungarian coat of arms symbolised Slovakia. Since a few Slovak villages lie at the foot of the Mátra, and the Tatras and the Fatra lie in Slovak-speaking territory, the area delineated by these three mountain ranges was considered Slovak territory.

István király pajzzsal és zászlóval — King Stephen with shield and banner

The Triple Mount

The triple mount is also a symbol of Golgotha and redemption. It was first used by Emperor Theophilos (829–842), appearing until the 13th century, initially as unequal-sided triangles, later as steps. In Hungary, it first appeared during the reign of Béla III, along with the double cross. Béla III was raised in Byzantium; his mother was the daughter of Prince Mstislav of Kiev, and he likely remained Orthodox until his death. Thus, Byzantine influence reached Hungary much later than the countries of the Caucasus.

Az országot jelentő sumir vonalas jel, asszír ékjel és a kínai hegyet és az egyiptomi idegen országot jelentő írásjegy. — The linear Sumerian symbol for country, Assyrian cuneiform, the Chinese character for mountain, and the Egyptian sign for foreign land.

III. Béla király és neje sírja a Mátyás templomban — The tomb of King Béla III and his wife in Matthias Church

The Double Cross

The Slovaks linked the double cross to the legend of two brothers and missionaries, Cyril (827–869) and Methodius (813/815–885), who brought Christianity. This explanation overlooks that the double cross is a Byzantine symbol and had no religious significance—it represented the absolute power of Byzantine emperors. Therefore, the two missionaries could hardly have dared to use the token of imperial victory in their evangelisation, since their mission did not serve “worldly” goals.

"The appearance of the double cross in the Hungarian coat of arms can also be explained by Byzantine influence, but perhaps also by the fact that in Transylvania—which was part of the Kingdom of Hungary at the time of the symbol’s development—the region was governed by the Gyulas. In Hungarian runic writing, the 'gy' sound was marked with a double cross, so the symbol in the coat of arms may have represented Transylvania."

Székely Magyar rovás írás — Székely Hungarian Runic Script

After 1918, when the new state of Czechoslovakia was established, it united several regions—Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia—under one state framework.

In a report at the time, the Constitutional Committee of the National Assembly noted:

"Slovakia, which never possessed independent statehood, likewise never had its own emblem, and what is generally regarded as Slovakia’s coat of arms according to conventional heraldic teachings was in fact the symbol of old Hungary (Uhry), taken from the former Hungarian coat of arms and only recently altered so that the originally green triple mount was changed to blue."

So how did a Hungarian symbol become a Slovak coat of arms?

After the symbol was modified by law and declared the coat of arms of Slovakia, there was no obstacle to it being generally recognised as such. Thus, the emblem was included in the middle coat of arms of Czechoslovakia. When the first Slovak state (1939–1945) was formed, its state coat of arms was the above-described symbol, with the modification of using a Gothic shield. After the Second World War, it remained in use until 1960, when it was replaced by a different, “socialist” coat of arms, which remained in place until 1990. The coat of arms of the Czecho-Slovak Federal Republic (1990–92) once again included the previous symbol, which became the emblem of the independent Slovak Republic established on 1 January 1993.

(Sources: 1. Nagy Magyarország: Gábor Szabó, 2. Péter Püspöki Nagy: The Peers of the Hungarian Coat of Arms: The Czech(Slovak) and Polish State Coats of Arms. In: Coats of Arms of Hungary. Ed.: Ede Ivánfi. Maecenas, Bp., 1989. p. 158., 3. Book of Kings. Officina Nova, Bp., 1993. p. 77., 4. Iván Bertényi: A Brief Hungarian Heraldry. Gondolat, Bp., 1983, pp. 78–80., 5. Emil Niederhauser: The Byzantine Roots of the Modern Slovak State Coat of Arms. In: Klió. No. 3, 2000., 6. Zoltán Balassa: The True History of the Slovaks. In: Hitel. Vol. 20, No. 3, 2007, p. 98., 7. György Székely: The Journey of the Double Cross from Byzantium to Latin Europe. In: Coats of Arms of Hungary. Ed.: Ede Ivánfi. Maecenas, Bp., 1989. In: Ivánfi 1XVI., 8–9. Balassa: ibid., p. 99.)