Ruthenian lion

The Ruthenian lion (Руський лев, Lew ruski), Ukrainian (Russiae) lion, or Halychian (Galician) lion is a golden lion on an azure background. The lion was featured on the historic coat of arms of the Kingdom of Rus, the Ruthenian Voivodeship and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. During the revolutions in the Austrian Empire in 1848, it became one of the national symbols of Ukrainians and the Ukrainian national liberation movement. Today it is featured on the coat of arms of the city of Lviv and its surrounding province, Lviv Oblast. Usually, it was depicted as stocky, less often walking, crowned, with silver or red weapons, resting on a gold or silver rock. The oldest images appear on the seals of rulers from the fourteenth century – Yurii I of Galicia, Leo II of Galicia, Yurii II Boleslav, Vladislaus II of Opole. In the 15th–16th centuries the lion was present on the large seals of Kings Władysław II Jagiełło, Alexander Jagiellon, and Sigismund II Augustus as a symbol of Rus, along with the Polish eagle, the Lithuanian pahonia, and the Prussian eagle. Provincially it was used as the emblem of Lwów Land in the form of a lion on a rock in 15th century. In modern times it is used generally as a symbol of western Ukrainian lands, notably in Lviv and the surrounding region of Halychyna. He was depicted with the emblems of Ukrainian military formations of the twentieth century – the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (1914–1918) and the 14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia" (1943–1945). It is used as a coat of arms in Polish heraldry, in particular in Częstochowa and the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Kingdom of Rus The Ruthenian lion first appears on the seal of Ruthenian King Yurii I of Galicia, dated to the beginning of the fourteenth century. On its obverse there is a static image of the monarch on the throne, and on the reverse – an armed rider holding a shield with the image of a lion on his hind legs. On the seal the inscription in Latin: S[igillum] Domini Georgi Regis Rusie ('Seal of the master George-Yurii, King of Rus'), and on the back: S[igillum] Domini Georgi Ducis Ladimerie (seal of the hospodar George-Yuri, Prince (Vo)lodymyria).