| HOLY SEE
Coat of Arms STATE OF VATICAN CITY
Flag, Coat of Arms and Seal
Flag
of the State of Vatican City 
Banner divided in yellow (towards the flagpole) and white,
with the white part centered with the crossed keys
surmounted by the tiara. History of the Flag of the State of Vatican City [Italian] [Cf. Fundamental Law of the State of Vatican City dated 26.11.2000 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Supplement, 01.02.2001, Attachment A.]
Coat of Arms
of the Holy See    Emblem filed in 1996
at the World Organization for Intellectual Property (WIPO).
Coat of Arms
of the State of Vatican City 
Crossed keys
surmounted by the tiara over a red field
(gules, two keys in saltire or and argent,
interlaced in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or). [Cf. Fundamental law of the State of Vatican City dated 26.11.2000 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Supplement, 01.02.2001, Attachment B).] The symbolism is drawn from the Gospel and is represented by the keys given to the Apostle Peter by Christ. The insignia is red with the two keys crossed as the Cross of St. Andrew, one gold and one silver, with the cotter pointed upwards and towards the sides of the shield. Two cords hang from the grips of the keys, usually red or blue. The shield is surmounted by the tiara or triregnum. Two ribbons hang from the tiara, each with a patent cross. Ordinarily the keys have the mechanical part placed up, facing to the right and the left and usually in the form of a cross, not for the mechanisms of a lock, but as a religious symbol. The grips vary according to artistic taste, from the Gothic to the Baroque. Since the XIV Century, the two crossed keys have been the official insignia of the Holy See. The gold one, on the right, alludes to the power in the kingdom of the heavens, the silver one, on the left, indicates the spiritual authority of the papacy on earth. The mechanisms are turned up towards the heaven and the grips turned down, in other words into the hands of the Vicar of Christ. The cord with the bows that unites the grips alludes to the bond between the two powers.
Seal
of the State of Vatican City 
Round: central field with the crossed keys
and surmounted by the tiara, framed by four concentric circles
with a pearled external one, two by two.
Enclosing the epigraph: STATO DELLA CITTÀ DEL VATICANO,
with the beginning and the end at the bottom,
separated by eight-pointed stars. [Cf. Fundamental law of the State of Vatican City dated 26.11.2000 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Supplement, 01.02.2001, Attachment C).] [Flag drawings © The Flag Institute & Graham Bartram; Drawing animated flag © Pascal Gross; Drawing coat of arms of the Holy See © Mario Fabretto] |
