National Arms of Cyprus

Heraldry of the World Civic heraldry of Cyprus

National arms of CYPRUS

Official blazon

Or a dove rising proper in its beak argent an olive branch proper; in base, the year "1960" written in Sable

Origin/meaning

The arms show a pigeon and an olive branch, both symbols of peace. The year 1960 is the year of independence from Great Britain.

The present arms as used by the government is actually not according to the constitution, as it is used with a silver olive branch and date, and described as a shield of copper-yellow, a colour which does not exist in heraldry. I thus keep the arms above as official arms, and the arms as used by the government are shown below.

The arms as currently (2012) used by the government

The arms on a coin

Colonial arms

The British Crown Colony of Cyprus used until the early 20th century a single red lion, and later, until 1960, two lions based on the arms of England. Both were used by the authorities, but none was ever officially granted.

The arms on a cigarette card, 1910s.	The arms on a coin, 1901.
The arms with two lions.	The arms on a coin, 1901.

North Cyprus

These arms were adopted on March 12, 2007.

The de-facto independent, but not recognised, Republic of North Cyprus uses the same design as Cyprus, but with the addition of a crescent and star (taken from the arms of Turkey) and the date 1983; the date of 'independence'.

The arms on a coin

Literature : Pedersen, 1979; old image provided by Mike Oettle, South Africa; arms of North Cyprus from http://www.kktcb.eu/index.php