Proposed coat of arms of North Macedonia

From the end of the 16th till the end of the 18th centuries, the region of North Macedonia was commonly represented in foreign armorials with a coat of arms depicting a golden lion on red field, or red lion on golden field. The earliest known example of this is the Fojnica Armorial[2] from 16/17 century,[3][4] and later examples include the Korenić-Neorić armorial of 1595,[5][6] a 1620 armorial on display in the Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art, and a 17th-century armorial in Berlin Library.[7] The Korenić-Neorić armory roll of 1595 included a five-pointed crown.[8] The Belgrade Museum of Contemporary Art displays a 1620 version of the symbol with a three-pointed crown, while the Berlin Library displays a 17th-century version with the five-pointed crown.[7] The use of the lion to represent Macedonia was continued in foreign heraldic collections throughout the 16th to 18th centuries[9][10]

During the late 19th century the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization arose, which aim was the autonomy for Macedonia and Adrianople regions. The organization modeled itself after the earlier Bulgarian revolutionary traditions and adopted their symbols as the lion, motto, etc.[11][12][13][14][15] It was disbanded in 1934 by the Bulgarian army after a military coup. Several Macedonian parties have claimed after 1990 a line descent from the old IMARO.[16]

The Republic of North Macedonia had no heraldic emblem when the country gained independence from Yugoslavia, but since then this emblem has often been proposed as a replacement for the non-heraldic national emblem of the republic, a remnant of socialistic symbolism.[9][10] Such efforts have so far failed, due to political and national disputes over possible replacements. A proposal by architect and graphic designer Miroslav Grčev was put forward in 1992 to replace it with a revised version of the historical gold lion on a red shield. However, this was rejected on three main grounds:

• several political parties, notably VMRO-DPMNE, already use that emblem as their party symbols
• the Albanian political parties of Macedonia considered the proposal to be only representative for the ethnic Macedonians, but not also for ethnic Albanians
• the state coat of arms of Bulgaria is somewhat similar (but not identical)

Because of these reasons, the political parties agreed to continue to use the current device until a solution is found. The emblem did not appear on the country's first passports, however, in 2007 the device was put on the front and the inside of the new biometric Macedonian passports, while the parliamentary debate about acceptance of a new national emblem still continues.

According to the provisions of the Article 5, Section 2 of the Constitution of Macedonia, the two-thirds majority is required to pass a law on the new symbols of the Republic. The usage of the Coat of arms has been defined by a law.[17]

In 2009 Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization–People's Party proposed the golden lion on red background as a new coat of arms of Macedonia, based on the traditional logo of the historical VMRO, but it was not accepted. On the 5 December 2014 the VMRO-DPMNE government of the Republic of Macedonia, in accordance with the then policy of Antiquization, proposed a coat of arms which would replace the old national emblem. According to the Macedonian Heraldry Society, the new coat of arms is based on an illustration from Jerome de Bara (1581).[1] The illustration from de Bara's book "Le blason des armoiries" depicts attributed arms of Alexander the Great.[18] It is blazoned as "Or, a lion gules" (on a golden background, a red lion) and topped with a golden mural crown to represent the republican form of government. The parliament did not vote on this design.[19]

The coat of arms with a golden lion on a red shield is used to represent several Macedonian political parties, including the largest one; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity and Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization–People's Party. At the same time, the lion as a symbol of these parties is inherited from the original organization VMRO, where it was borrowed from the Bulgarian coat of arms.[20][21]

• Historical examples of renditions
• 
  From the Korenić-Neorić armorial (1595)
• 
  Macedonian Coat of Arms, Althan’s or Bolognas’ Roll (1614)
• 
  Coat of arms of Macedonia, Belgrade II Roll (1620)
• 
  From the armorial Le blason des armoiries (1628), by Jérôme de Bara
• 
  From 1694, by Pavao Ritter Vitezović[22]
• 
  Coat of Arms of Macedonia, Fojnica 17th century
• 
  From Stemmatographia (1741), by Hristofor Zhefarovich
• 
  Fictional flag of Alexander the Great in Năstase Negrule's version of the Alexander Romance, 1790
• 
  Zefarovic's Stemmatographia in Rila monastery which depicts the Serbian, Bulgarian, Bosnian and Macedonian coat of arms (top left to bottom right). They were made in 1883 within the Bulgarian Principality, by the painter Nikola Obrazopisov.[23]
• 
  Insurgent Banner used in the Razlovci Uprising, 1876. The flag which states "Awaken to Liberate Macedonia" was made on the order and per a model sent by BRCK-leader Vasil Levski by two schoolmistresses, his relatives.[24]
• 
  Flag of the Kratovo IMARO insurgents used during the Ilinden uprising. On the flag is depicted Bulgarian lion and the year 1903.[25]
• 
  Flag of the Ohrid insurgents used during the Ilinden uprising, 1903. The lion is depicted dismembering the Islamic star and crescent. On the flag is written part of the Hristo Botev's 1873 poem dedicated to Hadzhi Dimitar.

• 
  First unofficial proposal.[26]
• 
  Second unofficial proposal.[26]
• 
  Coat of arms proposed in 1992, by Miroslav Grčev. This was the most popular proposed arms before the government's 2014 proposal.

• National emblem of the Republic of Macedonia

• Media related to Proposed national coats of arms of North Macedonia at Wikimedia Commons