Coat of arms of Lermontov

The heraldic description of the coat of arms of the city of Lermontov reads:

In the azure field, on top of an elevated cross , also azure and thinly bordered with silver , is a golden eagle facing the right, holding a golden feather in its paws and accompanied at the tip by a narrow serrated broken belt of five teeth decreasing and lowered to the edges, and below the belt by two elongated rings crosswise with a bezant (ball) in the middle; the figures at the tip are also golden.

- Decision of the Council of the city of Lermontov dated April 25, 1996 No. 16 ^[6]

According to the Regulation on the coat of arms of the city, it is allowed to use the main figure of the coat of arms - an eagle with a feather - instead of the coat of arms of the city of Lermontov in its full form ^{[6] [7]} .

The symbols depicted in the coat of arms create a collective image of the city of Lermontov as an equal subject of the Stavropol Territory and the specially protected ecological and resort region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters , reflecting its historical, economic, natural, geographical and other features and traditions ^[8] .

The straight cross symbolizes the city’s belonging to the Stavropol Territory (“The cross is a protective symbol, reflects the name of the regional center ( Stavropol - Greek for “ city of the cross ”), and from it the name of the Stavropol Territory” ^[9] ) and the protection of the Orthodox faith , and also emphasizes "the inconsistency of the initially unconventional" specificity "of the city in the context of the historically established sanatorium-resort regime of the Kavminvod region, the" specificity "previously associated with strengthening the country's nuclear shield" ^[3] .

The figure of an eagle with outstretched wings personifies the North Caucasus . The goose feather sandwiched in its paws is “a traditional attribute of poetic muse and continuity of times, also associated with the name of the great Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov ”, in whose honor the city got its name ^[7] .

A broken belt with five teeth designates the five-headed silhouette of Beshtau ^[8] - the laccolithic mountain, which is an integral symbol and one of the main attractions of the city of Lermontov ^[4] .

Two elongated rings crosswise with a bezant in the middle indicate the emblem of the atomic nucleus - “a symbol of progressive technology, the abundance of natural and energy resources of the Beshtau pantries” ^[3] .

Azure symbolizes the belonging of the municipality to the Caucasian Mineral Waters (in the coat of arms of the Kavminvod water the shield field is also painted in azure ^[10] ) and the wealth of hydromineral resources located on its territory. Gold symbolizes the color of the sun and natural abundance. Silver symbolizes "youth, sincerity and bright prospects of the new city" ^{[3] [4]} .

The city of Lermontov was founded in 1952 as a settlement with a large uranium mining enterprise. In 1954 it was transformed into the village of Lermontovsky, and in 1956 received the status of a city ^[11] . Until the beginning of the 90s of the 20th century, Lermontov specialized in the extraction and processing of uranium ore and the production of raw materials for the defense industry and nuclear energy facilities ^[12] . The industrial specificity of the city distinguished it from the rest of the administrative formations in the agglomeration of the Kavminvod, characterized by a resort and health-improving orientation. Later, these features were reflected in the coat of arms of Lermontov ^{[4] [7]} .

In 1995, on the eve of the official approval of the coat of arms of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, the leadership of the resort region recommended the cities and districts of the Cavminvod group to begin developing their own symbols. In the same year, following the recommendations of the CMS administration, the head of the city of Lermontov, Sergey Vasilievich Ushakov, signed a decree on holding an open competition for the best design of the city coat of arms. The competition, which took place from August 10, 1995 to January 31, 1996, was attended mainly by local artists and architects. The authors of the projects were tasked with developing a coat of arms that complies with the rules of heraldry and reveals the characteristic features of the city of Lermontov: "natural landscape originality and geographical location, the wealth of natural minerals , history, culture and traditions of the CMS and Stavropol region." Consideration and discussion of competitive works was carried out by a special commission led by S. V. Ushakov, which included representatives of the city administration and the cavminvodsk branch of the Union of Architects of Russia . Based on the results of the commission’s work, out of 16 projects submitted to the competition, the project was recognized as the best by a resident of the city of Lermontov, a student of the Kiev Architecture and Construction Academy Natalia Anatolyevna Dudnik ^{[7] [12]} . The coat of arms developed by the young architect was approved by the mayor of Lermontov on February 8, 1996 ^[2] .

The coat of arms was a " heraldic shield with an aspect ratio (width to height) of 8:10." In its upper part was placed a “soaring eagle with a feather in its claws”, in the lower part - “the Beshtau silhouette in combination with a picture of the structural lattice of the atomic nucleus ” ^[2] . The image of the eagle symbolizing the Caucasus ^[4] bore some resemblance to the main figure of the coat of arms and the emblem of the Caucasian Mineral Waters - a specially protected eco-resort region, which includes the city of Lermontov ^[13] . Instead of a snake, in the municipal coat of arms, did an eagle clutch a goose feather in its paws - a symbol of literary creation, poetry and inspiration. The pen, according to the author’s interpretation, allegorically indicated the city’s connection with Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, who had once visited the vicinity of Mount Beshtau, at the foot of which a settlement named after him appeared, and which captured them in his drawings and literary works ^{[4] [14]} . The image of Beshtau itself was represented schematically in the coat of arms - in the form of a broken silhouette line with five teeth marking the five peaks of the laccolith mountain (a similar element was also used on the city logo developed in 2008 ^[15] ) ^{[3] [16]} . Under it, at the base of the shield, the author placed the symbol of the atom - two intersecting elliptical orbits with a point-core in the middle ^{[16] [17]} . The combination of these two symbols (mountain and atomic nucleus) reminded that Lermontov was founded by miners who mined “Lermontovite” ( uranium phosphate, a chemical element used in atomic energy) in Beshtau’s interior ^{[18] [19] [20]} . The emblem of the city could also be reproduced with a frame in the form of a wreath of oak leaves intertwined with a ribbon with the colors of the Flag of Russia , and crowned with the emblem of the Stavropol Territory , or in the form of a “main figure - a soaring eagle with a feather in its claws combined with the silhouette of Beshtau” ^[2] .

After approval, the coat of arms of Lermontov was sent for examination to the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation and on April 25, 1996, was entered in the State Heraldry Register of the Russian Federation under number 135, becoming the first officially registered coat of arms in the Stavropol Territory ^{[4] [21]} . On the same date, deputies of the city council approved the heraldic description and reference designs for the coat of arms of the municipality ^[3] . Later, by the decision of the Council of the city of Lermontov on October 9, 1996, the Regulation on the coat of arms introduced the correct description proposed by the Heraldic Council: “In the azure field over an elevated cross, also azure and thinly bordered with silver, there is a golden, right-facing eagle holding paws are a golden feather and accompanied at the tip by a narrow serrated broken belt of five teeth decreasing and lower to the edges, and below the belt by two elongated rings crosswise with a bezant (ball) in the middle; the figures at the tip are also golden ” ^{[2] [21]} .

On April 29, 2008, the acting head of the city of Lermontov, V. D. Tyutyunnikov, signed a decision to amend the Regulation on the coat of arms of the city of Lermontov, approved by the city council on April 25, 1996. It follows from the explanatory note attached to this document that the previous version of the Regulation did not reflect the changes made to the image of the coat of arms of the city of Lermontov after the examination of design materials carried out by the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation in 1996, and the image of the coat of arms used (for example, on seals and stamps) also did not always correspond to the image of the coat of arms registered in the State Heraldic Register. In addition, it was proposed to refine the coat of arms of the municipality, changing “the location of the main figure - the eagle (currently facing the left) to the same figure of the eagle, but facing the right” ^[8] . In the new edition of the Regulation, the description of the coat of arms of Lermontov was as follows:

In the azure (blue, blue) field, on top of an elevated cross, also azure and thinly bordered with silver, is a golden eagle facing to the right (from the viewer), holding a golden feather in its paws and accompanied at the tip by a narrow serrated broken silver belt about five decreasing and lowered to the edges teeth, and below the belt - with two elongated rings crosswise with a bezant (ball) in the middle, the figures at the tip are golden.

- Decision of the Council of the city of Lermontov of April 29, 2008 No. 44 ^[8]

Due to amendments to the description and design of the coat of arms by the deputies, the Heraldic Council under the President of the Russian Federation excluded it from the State Heraldic Register. And only after in 2009 the decision of the Council of the city of Lermontov dated April 29, 2008 No. 44 was declared invalid, the state heraldry restored the registration of the coat of arms of the municipality ^[2] .

• Markelov N.V. When Beshtau was no more than a bump. Literary history of the Pyatigorsk / N.V. Markelov. - Essentuki: [B. and.], 2005. - 158 p.
• Okhonko N. A. Symbols of a small homeland / N. A. Okhonko. - Pyatigorsk: Bulletin of the Caucasus, 2007 .-- 96 p. - ISBN 5-85714-049-8 .
• Pokhlebkin V.V. Dictionary of International Symbols and Emblems / V.V. Pokhlebkin. - 3rd ed. - Moscow: International Relations , 2001. - 560 p. - ISBN 5-7133-0869-3 .

• Administrative-territorial structure // Official site of the administration of the city of Lermontov.
• City of Lermontov (Stavropol Territory) // Heraldicum.ru: official site of the Russian Center for Flag Studies and Heraldry.
• Coat of arms of the city of Lermontov // Heraldika.ru: non-profit Internet project on heraldry and vexillology.