Regulations on the emblem
The flag
The differential signs
Being based on the resolutions of the Academic Council of the academy (Record No. 7 of March 31, 2000) and the University administration (Record of June 5, 2000) and according to the expert opinion of the Heraldic Council at the President of the Russian Federation (No. A23 - 2-152 of 17/04/2000, inc. No. 616 of 23.05.2000) the emblem having the following heraldic description is approved as the official symbol of the Institute:
«In the azure (dark blue, blue) field appearing from the left side heads the thin silver tsiklamories, one inside the other; and over them the entered concave dark red edge with the gold border which is narrowed by the end; the edge is inclined in left part of the head, burdened in the bottom with the silver opened book and accompanied on the right top сorner with the gold, about four beams, star.
The motto «ALWAYS FORWARD» is written with gold letters on an azure ribbon».
Emblem of RSREU Anniversary sign of RSREU
On the picture: on the left - the full emblem of the Academy (now - University), on the right - a sign of anniversary of the Academy created with use of the emblem.
The author and painter of the RSREU emblem - M.K. Shelkovenko.
At a stage of the project it passed the heralds office examination in the State heraldry at the President of the Russian Federation.
The first corporate emblem in Ryazan
(M.K. Shelkovenko)
At the end of 2001 one of the largest Higher Education Institutions of Ryazan - Radio Engineering academy (RSREA) celebrated the 50 anniversary from the date of its creation. Long before this date the administration of the academy was thinking over the creation for it of an official symbol - the RSREU emblem. To this decision it was urged with that fact that many capital Universities and Institutes began actively to get own signs in the form of the colorful emblem by an example of the majority of the European Universities against of the background of the increased general interest in the country to traditional Russian symbolic. Recent emergence of historical publications in which the image of pre-revolutionary emblems and signs of the Russian Institutes created by strict rules, and also vigorous revival of the Russian patrimonial and territorial heraldry is provided, warms up this interest.
Today, perhaps, there is no firms or small firms which don’t have proprietary or trademarks, a logo or other sign of identification at the goods and service market, - without them they have no recognizable face. But also on this background of various and, sometimes, elegant graphic miniatures the classical emblem with solidity and importance of the traditional form that is rich with an normativity, feeling of an antiquity and some mysteriousness, without any doubts, stands out this background of various and, sometimes, elegant graphic miniatures .
Emblem has centuries of history and uninterrupted tradition, it symbolizes intergenerational continuity, self-management, dignity and independence of its owner, its rights and power. The emblem always has the legend explaining its origins, the symbolism of its components signs and figures. Unlike the logo, which can be changed any time by the will of the owner, the emblem is made once and becomes the common property of any family, or corporation, and it can only be changed by the agreement with the State Heraldry Service and in strict conformity with age-old rules of heraldry. It gives the emblem of the quality of constancy, stability and reliability, increases its status among other signs of graphic identification. Emblem - is prestigious!
Probably the following fact also had influenced in the Soviet period there is no system of state signs for graduates - and these signs have always been symbols of a certain social status. Having your own, recognized by the state emblem, allows creating on its basis its own signs for both graduates and for its teaching staff and students. This also allows to have its own flag recognizable without writing on it the name of the owner.
At the beginning of 1997 the administration of RSREA made a decision to create the emblem, and then the concrete work in this area began. And together with it the problems appeared.
The first and main one is that today in Russia there is no legally developed and approved a set of rules regulating the order of creation of corporate emblem, which is indeed the emblem of Radio Academy. Sure, there is the global and Russian heraldic tradition which contains enough clear, authorized by the time rules of emblems creation, and until 1917 they were steadily observed, without requiring special legitimating. But in today's Russian society, these rules must find not only heraldic, but the legal status to be universally understood, interpreted and applied by everyone. Without it, any emblem, even being made up in full accordance with all of the traditional heraldic rules, will have a certain element of doubtfulness and illegitimate. And, unfortunately, no heraldic codes, written by public organizations and specialists without legitimizing procedures, can not fill this gaping lapse. (All above mentioned concerns the situation of the family and territorial Russian heraldry.)
No less challenging, but solvable, there is the problem of appropriate reflection in the RSREA emblem of specific of modern scientific and technical multidisciplinary educational institution in such visible images, the use of which allows by heraldic science. The fact is that, unlike the logo or emblem, which are approved in the form of fixed graphic, the emblem approves only in its exact heraldic description (blazon) formed in special sequence and with the use of heraldic terminology. The emblem is here only auxiliary, that allows its various stylistic interpretations with the strict compliance with blazons. This rule imposes severe and even insurmountable restrictions on the use in the emblem of images of modern mechanisms, tools and devices - they can not be exactly heraldic described due to its complexity, diversity of forms and rapid changing following the technological progress. The same concerns specific architecture, monuments, etc. Therefore, heraldry uses only the well-established for many centuries objects, figures and signs.
Both of these problems were evident from the start of the RSREA emblem creation, but in the process of the work other difficulties were revealed, and it is better to tell about them in the same sequence in which they occurred and were resolved.
Initially, the administration of Radio Academy ordered the design of the emblem in one of the Ryazan advertising firms. Having great advertising experience, brand names and logos, but lacking basic heraldry knowledge, its experts proposed a number of interesting and witty alternatives for the RSREU logo, which, unfortunately, could not even be a basis for the emblem. The peak of the designers efforts was the emblem in the emblem shape which combined the typical emblem of the Ryazan city in 1779 (on the top the Ryazan emblem was placed – in a gold field crossed sword and scabbard under a green prince crown, and at the bottom - instead of the city emblem there was an image of stylized spherical radio antenna in an azure field, from which the radio waves rise up in the form concentric semi-circles) with a garland of green oak leaves, as framing of the provincial emblem of the sample 1857, bounded with a yellow ribbon with azure letters RSREA. On the top of the emblem was crowned with an image of a flaming torch which arises from the shield.
The state heraldry (so the state heralds office was called till 1999; now – the Heralds Council under the President of the Russian Federation) surely rejected this emblem not only because of the fact that it was drawn up and filled out illiterately, but the presence of framing garland in the corporate emblem was considered unacceptable. The elucidation of the heraldry in its expert’s report briefly boils down to the following:
- two parts crossed form of the shield means direct dependence of the bottom emblem (RSREA) on the top – province, and now not only there is no such a legal person as Ryazan province but there is now the direct subordination of RSREA to the administration of the Ryazan region or the city Ryazan. Due to these facts the top part of the emblem can’t be used now at all, besides such a form of the district emblem was already legally abolished in 1857, and RSREA is not even a district city;
- an image of the modern radio antenna in the RSREA emblem is unacceptable for the reasons mentioned above, though in the emblem (but not in the emblem) of the academy is can be included;
- a garland in the modern corporate emblem can’t be used as it’s not typical part of the administrative emblem and it’s an evidence of limited legal independence of the emblem owner, his official subordination and belonging. Actually one or another garland itself belongs no to the emblem owner, but the office, and the Ministry of the Higher Education has still no its own official signs, therefore using of any arbitrary garland in the RSREA sing and its anniversary emblem, created on the base of the approved emblem. So it’s better to wait a little with the garland.
- there can be a motto on the emblem, but it can’t include the name of the emblem owner (even abbreviation);
- under the emblem shield there can be placed only status crown in any form (but in no way torch, or this or that figure), and for the corporate emblem such crown is not still introduced, so the emblem can’t be crowned by this sort of signs.
At the same time the Heraldry insistently recommends no to use in the corporate emblem any others external ornaments or heraldic figures – shield holders, helmets with a crest, mantling, cloak etc. – besides motto. The administration of RSREA accepted these recommendations to implement and process of further designing of the emblem was correctly directed. The recommendations of the Heraldry had dramatically diminished an area of pure artistic imagination (actually – any not heraldic fantasy), carried away from the external beauty, that a frame gives to any emblem, and at the same time intensified the search of sign content of the emblem within the frame of the heraldic shield.
At this stage the RSREA administration had to refuse services of advertising company and to appeal for the help to the regional heraldic commission. As a result of the work lasting with breaks more than three years, the range of symbols which could form a sign basis for the RSEA emblem was defined. Unsuccessfully there was a way of saturation of the emblem shield with the symbols reflecting various aspects of the activity therefore they preferred the search of one capacious sign which could unite something more picturesque and important for the academy characteristic. Altogether about 50 alternatives of the emblem from which more or less successful there were 7-8 projects.
The image of a lightning (thunderous arrow) which since ancient times was a symbol of a storm, Supreme deity, divine anger and God’s grace (rain) appeared one of the first in the emblem, and in modern symbolic it is used, generally as a symbol of an electricity and electrotechnical devices. A reason for using of this image in the RSREA emblem was the fact that all the variety of the radio equipment emerged from the device created in by A.S. Popov, the founder of radio, and originally registering lightning discharges.
But at the beginning of the XX century the thunderous arrow became too general symbol of electric energy on the whole, for telecommunication on its basis the other emblem - the two-way lightning symbolizing basic possibility of double-side transmission of an electro signal was created. In this modified form the lightning became the part of the telecommunication institution emblems and, first of all, telegraphs.
The image of a flying pigeon became a traditional symbol of fast information transmission. By the different nations it also symbolizes love, family happiness, the world, and in Christianity - the Holy Spirit. Pigeon mail was used from time immemorial and before emergence of the telegraph and radio was the quickest means of information communication - the analogy is obvious.
According to the heraldry rules instead of the whole in the emblem only its special part can be used. So in the RSREA emblem instead of the pigeon there was an image of the wing bearing a two-way lightning. Further this symbol was filled with the additional content. To emphasize the electric nature of any radio communication, between wing feathers there was an image of small silver lightning, and color of feathering of the wing became gold to remind of territorial color of the Ryazan earth - gold color of its emblem shield.
The connection of a two-way lightning with the gold wing having small silver lightnings, formed a symbol of a quick as lightning communication that is typical for radio and could designate the RSREA activity rather capaciously. But in the total number of silver lightnings or wing feathers (7) in a wing it was possible to see a reference to present number of the faculties of the academy - seven (which simply is the «happy number»!). As the RSREA administration wanted additionally to emphasize territorial belonging to the Ryazan earth, the image of the three-hills was introduced into an end of the emblem, or gold «town» - the simplified emblem of the Ryazan region. In this form the project of the emblem was coordinated with the Heraldry, but there were problems of absolutely not heraldic character, though typical for those cases when joint decisions are made.
The response from the Heraldry kept us waiting, and meanwhile to one of the RSREA professors the lightning with wings seemed to be similar to «Bush's leg» - and the bad word has rare ability to stick to a subject or the phenomenon, creating about it wrong opinion. As a result, by that moment when the long-awaited answer came from the Heraldry, by the RSREA administration the position on the chosen emblem was changed, thus already coordinated project of the emblem was rejected, as not corresponding to scientific and technical capacity of the academy and too «old-looking». The development of new projects was much more difficultly as now it was required to coordinate them with student and teaching councils where opinions constantly changed and didn't coincide with each other.
Finally - and as a result of new searches of a sign basis for the emblem – the stylized image of an electric impulse in the form of the bordered edge, at the same time reminding by its silhouette a radio mast and an inversion track of the flying-up rocket became its main emblem. The last figurative meaning of the sign is based on the fact that one of the main RSREU activities is space science work. To the projects in different forms the image of a pigeon, or flying against radio-waves, or taking off from the two part of the edge returned. Also silver concentric ovals or ellipses from the very first project returned. In the modern world such images are already traditionally taken as symbolical designation of radio-waves. At the same time the ban on use of symbols of the new time isn’t broken at all because such silver ovals or ellipses are itself simple geometrical figures. The same geometrical figure is also the edge which is often used in heraldry, but a bit modified in the RSREA emblem. Included in a certain context, it got new sense.
The new in the emblem projects was inclusion of the image of an opened book, as traditional symbol of knowledge, and, more close, - educational institution. In some early variants the image of the book was combined with a torch - also one of knowledge symbols, or with the crossed two-way lightnings. But the Heraldry’s experts persuaded not to use the torch image as a too loosely interpreted symbol, and lightnings naturally «fell away» - in perception of the academic public their image was tightly bound with «Bush's legs».
In the projects the image of a four-beam gold star appeared - both a symbol of a star guiding, and an aspiration symbol to the high purpose. At first there were seven stars (by number of RSREU faculties) that it can be interpreted as «constellation of talents» or «pleiad» (according to the name of dense constellation from seven stars – «Pleiades»); this word in dictionaries is explained so: «a group of the persons standing out in any relation and connected in their activity by the general tasks, views, etc». But finally it was decided to leave one guiding star for all. At the same time its gold color not only reminds of the Ryazan territorial color, but also distinguishes it from a silver four-beam star which in a number of the emblem is already involved as «Pole star». The emblem background finally was defined as azure - color of air in which radio-waves spread.
So gradually, during numerous discussions and consultations the RSREA emblem coordinated with the Heraldry and approved by the order of the academy rector was created. On the eve of the fiftieth RSREA anniversary on the basis of the approved emblem it was possible to create an emblem for the academy anniversary, having surrounded the lawful emblem with the decorative gold garland intertwined with an azure ribbon with the RSREA motto and anniversary dates, written by gold, and having accompanied the emblem above with the same ribbon with the Radio academy abbreviation. The motto was taken from K.E.Tsiolkovsky's book, our great fellow countryman, and says: «Always forward».
The garland form for the emblem was agreed on with the Heraldry at the earliest designing stages of the coat of arms and as a whole it repeats a frame of the emblems of technical and military and technical institutes of the Tsarist Russia. The reason to use such a garland was existence of the military chair and military subject in training and researches in RSREA. On the right the garland consists of a gold laurel branch - a symbol of civil merits and valours, and on the left - from a gold oak branch - a symbol of military merits and valours. Further this emblem can form a basis for designing of a breast badge of the RSREA graduate, and the approved emblem is a sign basis for creation of the Ryazan State Radio Engineering academy flag.
Scientific and educational resource about a modern Russian emblem creation «Heraldry today».