The "Hrvatski Grb" or Croatian Shield is one of the oldest national symbols in Europe.

The true origins of the Grb (pronounced "gerb" with a trilled "r") have been lost to antiquity. Croatian mythology once said that King Stjepan Drzislav, who ruled Croatia from 969 to 997, defeated a Venetian prince at chess to maintain Croatia's freedom. In fact, Venice was defeated by Croatia in a sea battle in 887 and was forced to pay tribute to Croatia until 1000. There are many other myths regarding the origins and the exact design of the shield.

Many scholars believe that the Croatians originated in what became modern day Iran or Afghanistan, where they were mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Persian King Darius the Great (522-486 B.C.E.). The design of the Grb, red and white alternating fields, may have been related to the ancient Persian system linking colors with direction which resulted in such terms as the Red Sea and the Black Sea. The terms White Croatia and Red Croatia for western and southern Croatia were still in use well into the eleventh century. Silver seems to have been interchangeable with white throughout history.

The oldest existing Grb in Croatia is found on the wings of four falcons on a baptismal font donated by King Kresimir IV (1056-1073) to the Archbishop of Split. The Grb was used on document seals from the fifteenth century and can be found on stone carvings dating from 1490 in che cathedral of the Adriatic city of Senj, and a church on the island of Krk.

Although the Grb is usually found in its classic five-by-five form, there were numerous variations throughout history. One example is a charter of the Croatian Sabor or Parliament of 1527, which displays a shield of sixty-four fields. Perhaps best known to Croatians and tourists alike is the roof tile design of historic St. Mark's church in old Zagreb incorporating the coat-of arms of the triune Croatian Kingdom and the City of Zagreb.

St. Mark's was built in the thirteenth century and beautifully restored between 1876 and 1882. In 1991, it narrowly missed destruction as a Serb aircraft missile intended to kill Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, struck the Presidential ofiices a few yards away.

Source:

http://www.studiacroatica.org/libros/mythe/mesc01.htm

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IZAKOVIC