NASH HERB [prepayment]

Prepayment until January 30, 2025. Printed: February, 2025

This 400-page album contains over 700 illustrations from more than 50 museums, archives and libraries in Ukraine and around the world.

During the discussion about the coat of arms of the Ukrainian People's Republic 100 years ago and which of our historical symbols was worthy of becoming the main sign of the new Ukrainian statehood, there were three main “candidates”: the Galician golden lion leaning on a rock; the Kyiv Saint Michael the Archangel, who at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries was perceived as the coat of arms of the Dnipro Ukraine; a Cossack with a musket from the times of the Hetmanate, which was interpreted as a national coat of arms since the 18th century. There are several dozen pages about each of them in the album.

The ownership sign from the coins of the times of Volodymyr the Great, known until then only to a narrow circle of specialists, was initially perceived as a compromise option. But it “hit the bull's eye”. Several factors outweighed in its favor. This book is about it. And a phenomenon occurred: long forgotten, but now found — the Trident immediately became the national coat of arms of Ukraine. All other symbols, which had much stronger positions and a longer (but not deeper!) tradition, receded into the background. A symbol that is graphically beautiful, concise, original — and most importantly ancient — the Trident has legitimized the historical connection between modern Ukraine and Kyivan Rus.

Throughout the 20th century, our coat of arms inspired artists to create its interpretations. Vasyl Krychevsky, Heorhii Narbut, Yuliian Butsmaniuk, Oleksa Novakivskyi, Pavlo Kovzhun, Petro Kholodnyi, Robert Lisovskyi, Mykola Bytynskyi, Nil Khasevych, Mykhailo Mykhalevych, Mykola Butovych, Myron Levytskyi, Mykhailo Dmytrenko, Sviatoslav Hordynskyi and others — many pages are dedicated to their works in this album. And more than half of this book is about the Trident in general.