The coat of arms of Surgut: modern, historical and soviet

Where is the city of Surgut? What do its official symbols look like? And how did the coat of arms of Surgut change over the years? Our article will tell about it.

Acquaintance with the city

The city of Surgut is located in Western Siberia, in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Its status is a usual district center. Nevertheless, in terms of the population (350 thousand) and the economic potential, Surgut far exceeds the administrative center of its district - the city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

The main wealth of Surgut is oil and gas. In connection with this feature, the city is often referred to as the oil capital of Russia. In 2011, he entered the top three of the richest cities in the country, ahead of even St. Petersburg! In addition, Surgut is an important energy center of Russia. There are two powerful thermal power stations on the planet - GRES-1 and GRES-2.

Despite the purely industrial specialization of the city, the cultural sphere is well developed in Surgut. There are four theaters, a philharmonic society, seven cinemas, an art gallery and a dozen different museums. The main sight of the city is the famous Surgut (Yugorskiy) bridge. It is one of the largest cable-stayed bridges in the world. Its total length is 2.1 kilometers. In addition, the city has many interesting and fun monuments. Among them are the monuments of Smile, Sguschenka, robots and firemen.

What does the coat of arms of Surgut look like? And how has it changed over the years? You can read about this later.

Surgut: coat of arms and flag

First of all, this city is famous for its oil. However, both the flag and the coat of arms of Surgut do not represent an oil rig. On the official city symbols one can see a fox-colored man walking proudly on the ground.

A black-brown fox, a fox or a black fox is a morph of an ordinary fox, which has a specific color. Since ancient times, the animal has been valued for its excellent fur.

Surgut arose in the late 16th century. In the forests around the newly-made town, sables and black foxes were in great numbers. The last animal was considered almost sacred among local peoples - Khanty and Mansi. Representatives of these ethnic groups have put together many myths and legends in honor of this unusual animal.

The modern coat of arms of the city of Surgut was approved in 2003. The shield is divided into two parts: the lower azure field and the upper field of the golden color. A black-brown fox walks along the azure land. And only the tip of the animal's tail is silver. In general, the picture of the coat of arms looks bright enough, realistic and laconic.

A similar image can be seen on the rectangular panel of the modern flag of Surgut.

Historical coat of arms of Surgut: description and meaning

The demand for furs in Russia has always been. And the Surgut land for many centuries was a real haven for hunters. Fur, "mined" in the local forests, was transported even to the capital. Probably, that's why the tsarina Catherine II granted Surgut a coat of arms with the image of a fur animal - a black-brown fox.

This coat of arms was approved in March 1785. The shield was divided into two parts: in the upper azure field was the coat of arms of the Tobolsk province, and in the lower gold a running fox was depicted. True, local historians still argue, it was black or still red.

In general, fox in heraldry is considered a good symbol. He personifies cunning, foresight and resourcefulness. The Khanty also completely endowed this animal with supernatural, magical powers.

The Soviet version of the city's coat of arms

In Soviet times, a black fox in Surgut was no longer as honored as before. On the foreground came another natural asset - oil. The new, Soviet coat of arms of Surgut was approved in 1975. Its author was VN Gorda.

For the sake of justice, it must be said that the fox was not driven from the new city coat of arms, left. But it has significantly decreased in size and looked now a little scared. The main figure on the new coat of arms of Surgut was the oil rig, which cuts through a huge silvery snowflake. This snowflake, by the way, consisted of elements of folk ornament. In this way, the city was affiliated with the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

It is curious that in the late 90s the image of the fox on the city's coat of arms once again became the main one, and the snowflake with the oil tower moved to the lower part of the shield and significantly decreased in size. Fortunately, the black fox has been present on the coat of arms of Surgut for more than two centuries, making it unique, memorable and unique.