page_title: Coat of arms of Finland
section_title: Creation
hierarchical_section_title: Coat of arms of Finland / Creation
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Coat of arms of Finland on the tomb of Gustavus I (Uppsala cathedral, Sweden)
context_page_description: The coat of arms of Finland is a crowned lion on a red field, the right foreleg replaced with an armoured human arm brandishing a sword, trampling on a sabre with the hindpaws. The coat of arms was originally created around the year 1580.
context_section_description: When John III assumed the title of "Grand Duke of Finland and Karelia", shortened to Grand Duke of Finland in 1577 (or soon thereafter), the lion became closely associated with Finland through the grand-ducal coats of arms (Figure 5). The grand-ducal coat of arms is thought to have resulted out of a combination of the Göta lion (originating from the Folkunga lion) and the arms of Karelia (Figure 6). The result was that the lion brandishes one weapon and treads on another.
  The best-known version of the grand-ducal coat of arms is found on the tomb of Gustavus I (1523–60) in the Uppsala cathedral (Figure 5). It has been suggested that either Duke John himself, or his brother Eric XIV, was leading the design work on the heraldic signs on the tomb. Neither statement can be confirmed, but it is known that Eric XIV showed an interest in heraldry. The monument was commissioned from Guillaume Boyen (Willem Boy), a Flemish architect and sculptor who had worked in Sweden. He started on the task in Antwerp in 1562, completing it 10 years later; however, the tomb was not in place in Uppsala until the early 1580s, and the finishing work lasted until 1591. In addition to the royal arms of Sweden and those of Finland, the arms of the 11 provinces are depicted. From Finland they include North and South Finland, as well as Tavastia and Karelia. The work of Willem Boy is of exceptional quality, which is perhaps explained by the fact that lions were a dominant feature in the heraldry of Flanders, and he would therefore have had a great deal of exposure to it before receiving the commission for the tomb of Gustavus I.
  The earliest known blazon from this period states that the arms of Finland represents A crowned lion of gold holding a sword in the right forepaw and trampling with both hindpaws on a Russian sabre (ryssesabel), surrounded by nine silver roses in a red field, over the shield a golden crown with a red cap. As both King Gustavus I and his son, John III, were involved in lengthy wars with Russia, it should come as no surprise that this was a central element in the arms of both the Grand Duchy of Finland, and in that of the coat of arms of the Finnish province of Karelia (Figure 6), which symbolizes the struggle between East and West.
  The purpose of the nine roses remains unknown, but are now mostly considered to be decorative only. They have sometimes been claimed to represent the nine historical provinces of Finland, but this hypothesis has not found support among prominent scholars. The number of towns in the nominal "Grand Duchy of Finland and Karelia" in 1580 were also nine, but no known historical research provides support for a link between the number of roses and the number of towns in Finland in 1580.
caption: Figure 5: Grand-ducal coat of arms of Finland, tomb of King Gustav Vasa (Uppsala cathedral, Sweden)
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 500", "Image DateTime": "2007:05:18 14:36:31", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Tag 0x1001": "2592", "Image Tag 0x1002": "1944", "Image ExifOffset": "148", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:05:18 14:36:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:05:18 14:36:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "291/32", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "2592000/283", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "486000/53", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}