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Iceland - Coat of Arms

Island

by Jan Oskar Engene, from Hermansson (1991)

National coat of arms
1919 coat of arms
First coat of arms
The Icelandic crown

National Coat of Arms

The Icelandic coat of arms is a shield with a silvery cross in a sky-blue field with a fiery red cross in the middle of the silvery cross. The arms of the crosses shall extend entirely to the edges of the shield in all four directions. The width of the silvery cross shall be 2/9, and that of the red cross 1/9, of the width of the shield. The two upper blue rectangles shall be equilateral, but the lower ones shall be one third longer, and equally wide. The blue and the red colours are the same as in the national flag.
Courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister of Iceland

The coat of arms appears on the flag of the president.

1919 Coat of Arms

by Jan Oskar Engene, from Hermansson (1991)

On 1 December 1918 Iceland became a sovereign and independent Kingdom in personal union with Denmark under a common king. The establishment of Iceland as an independent kingdom had consequences for the national symbols of the country: the coat of arms and the set of national flags. The first coat of arms (1919), illustrated by Hermansson (1991) contains a crown.
Jan Oskar Engene, 2 February 2002

First Coat of Arms

by H.M.

Iceland's first coat of arms bore a falcon on a blue background.
H.M., 7 December 2002

Coat of arms during Danish rule

by H.M.

This is a symbol of Danish colonialism..
H.M., 7 December 2002

The Icelandic Crown

by Jan Oskar Engene

As Iceland was made a separate kingdom, it got its own distinct heraldic crown, different from the Danish royal crown - as can be seen from the 1919 coat of arms. The crown of Iceland was decorated with blue and red stones, blue pearls, and a blue hat, and had an oval decorated with blue bands and a cross on top. This crown model was used not only on the coat of arms, but also on various special flags and ensigns.
Jan Oskar Engene, 2 February 2002

The crown was removed when Iceland became a fully independent republic in 1944. T