Od povijesnog do suvremenog grba grada Đakova

Till the democratic changes in the early nineties, the town coats of arms in the Republic of Croatia, although not officially forbidden by the communists, were very rarely used. This statement also concerned Đakovo. That it was really like that testifies the fact that Đakovo authorities gave the initiative for the design of new coat of arms in the eighties. The old, historical coat of arms was not in use for decades. Its appearance can be seen at the seal stamp preserved in the Archives of Croatia, photographs published in the book by E. Laszowski "The Coats of Arms in Yugoslavia," the ceiling of the small chapel and the interior of the All Saint\u27s church in Đakovo (the coat of arms from 1885.). We have accepted the coat of arms shown in the book by Laszowski as the historical coat of arms and the reference point for further contemplation. The historical coat of arms has the shape of shield. In its center there is the facade of the parish church of All Saint\u27s. Between the two classicist pillars there are images of apostles St. Peter and Paul. In the upper part of the shield dominates a roof with small cross and one big six-pointed star at each side. Although slightly changed, monographic attributes connected with the images of peter and Paul completely confirm their identity, and the analysis of developing phases of the All Saint\u27s church enables the exact time location of the coat of arms emergence. It was probably in the end of 18th century, after bishop Krtica had the church restored by building the classicist facade, and when, a few years later, bishop Mandić had the tower in 1984. Municipal assembly of Đakovo initiated the making of new coat of arms because it has not been established in the newer history, according to the Commission for establishing the town coat of arms. The commission chose Prof. Vasilije Pejovic for the project of new coat of arms. He made the sketch for the new coat of arms, which was accepted in March 1986. Not trying to dispute the professionalism of the author\u27s project, the final result was not satisfying. The accepted coat of arms was incompatible with heraldic rules of western provenance, repulsively structured and clearly defined in the ideological sense. These defectivenesses originated from the basic author" intention to stress cultural and historical heritage of Đakovo through the contents of the coast of arms, as well as the basic ideological premises of its further development. Such eclectic attitude could hardly result with high-grade solution. That was the reason why, in the early nineties, in completely different political atmosphere, a new initiative for creation of a coat of arms arose. This time the project was entrusted with Ivan Tuna Jakić, academic painter from Osijek. The latest coat of arms was approved by Ministry of administration and accepted by town authorities in 1993. It was a re-designed historical coat of arms adapted to modern times. There were some obvious mistakes concerning inappropriate arrangement of iconographie attributes of the saints and Dr. Antun Jarm reacted. His objections were mostly accepted. The final appearance of the coat of arms is described in the Act on the way and protection of the town\u27s coat of arms: "The coat of arms of Đakovo has the shape of stylized shield which ends with semicircle at the bottom, with height and width proportion of 5:4. In the middle of the coat of arms is the facade of the parish church All Saints. At the left and at the right side of the entrance doors are two saints. At the right side is St. Peter holding a key in his right hand, and a book in his left hand. At the left side is St. Paul holding a sword in his right hand and a book in his left hand. Between the saints there is a window looking like crossed bread. At both sides of the roof there are two six-pointed stars. The colours of the coat of arms: Encircling line of the coat of arms and the shield is gold. The roof of the church tower is red. The stars and halos are yellow. The church is placed at the green grass. The background of the coat of arms is blue.