The coat of arm of CUBA
was conceived in 1849 by Miguel Teurbe Tolón; a Cuban patriot born in the west providence
of Cuba known as Matanzas. General Narciso López head of the Provincial Government of
Cuba, adopted the coat of arm to seal communications and bonds emitted during the years of
1850 and 1851.
Originally the Cuban coat of arms
contained elements that were later omitted for not being considered representative of the
ideals of that time.
On April 21, 1906, Tomás Estrada Palma,
(first constitutional president of Cuba) through a decree, determined how the second of
the national symbols would come to be, one that through the annals of history, would
always remind the glories of the past and the consecrations of grand efforts.
The coat of arms was shaped from an
elongated oval, and is divided through two thirds of its height where it is then cut off
by a horizontal line. In the upper part, the main area, one observes an ocean in which two
landmasses are visible with a key placed at the center. These elements symbolize the
geographical importance and politics of CUBA. The key represents the entrance of the Gulf
of Mexico and the significance of the land masses are from left to right, Cape Sable,
Florida and Cape Catoche, Mexico. In the background, the sun appears partially sunk on the
horizon, detonating its tropical heat.
The lower left quadrant, represent the
division of the island, or the Departments in which the island was divided in those times,
representing them with three turquoise stripes. Two white stripes, that exhibit the purity
of its patriots, inserted between the three turquoise stripes, close the contents of the
compartment.
In the lower right quadrant there is a
palm tree, symbol of the health and fertility of its privledged ground, exposing that the
palm has been the most utilized tree throughout the history of that country. The
background displays two mountains and light silhouettes frame the landscape.
As a way of support, a column of rods
shows at the top and bottom of the "ojiva" vertices. At the top is a cap with a
five-point star. The column of rods means union of all Cubans; the star is the maximum
expression of liberty.
The ornamentation of the coat of arms is
finished, always visible from the front, and border from left to right a wreath of
evergreen, which represents the peace, and another of laurel, that represents the victory,
outlining the coat of arms.
The coat of arms, born in conjunction
with the Republic, was ratified by the Constitution of 1940. Its original design, in debt
to the patriot Miguel Teurbe Tolón, survived few modifications. It was Tolón, nourished
by patriotic impulses, who designed a coat of arms to be taken to the forefront from a
nobleman gesture in a bellicose attitude, and later in time to the premiere of the
Republic. |
