Coat of Arms of PSR
Coat of Arms of PSR stems from the symbols of three historical territorial units - counties (‚župy‘) – Šariš, Spiš and Zemplín, that existed already in medieval times.
The coats of arms of these units, which date back to the 16th –17th century, were used until 1922.
The right side of the coat of arms represents Šariš, the top left part stands for Spiš and the bottom left part for Zemplín.
It was not possible to incorporate historical coats of arms of the counties into the common coat of arms in their entirety. Therefore, the angel carrying the royal crown was left out from the Šariš coat of arms. Thus, what remained was a crown as a commonly accepted symbol of power and impressiveness, and three corrugated stripes symbolising three main Šariš rivers - Torysa, Topľa and Ondava.
Only the lion was taken from the complicated coat of arms of Spiš county – a symbol of courage and strength, located in the first field, in heraldry usually considered the most honourable place. Lions as characters were present also in the coat of arms of the Spiš capital – Levoča already since medieval times.
Only three fishes were adopted from the complicated coat of arms of Zemplín, as they are a typical symbol of the northern part of Zemplín even today. In any case, heraldry has always considered fish as a symbol of happiness and it is also known as an old Christian symbol.