Exhibition of symbols of North Caucasian territories opens in Stavropol

An exhibition entitled "Russian Statehood in the Symbols of the
Caucasus" opened today at the Stavropol State Regional Museum. The
exhibition is dedicated to the Day of the Russian Flag. It was opened
by the museum director, Nikolai Ohonko. The exhibition presents
contemporary emblems and flags of the seven subjects of the North Caucasus
Federal Distrcit and their capitals, StavlINFORM reports.

For centuries in the history of Russia a system of symbols of the
country and its territories, including governorships, regions,
provinces and cities, has been formed.  The eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries were marked by the establishment of statehood in the
Caucasus, accompanied by changes in the military, economic, political
and cultural spheres.

One of the expressions of statehood is a coat of arms.

Russia's first coat of arms on the territory of the North Caucasus was
linked with the Terek fortress, founded in 1577. The Russian coat of
arms was used by the daughter of a Kabardian Priince, the wife of Ivan
the Terrible, Maria Temrjukovna.

Coats of arms of the regions and provinces of the Caucasus developed in the
nineteenth century.

The exhibition presents contemporary coats of arms of the Caucasian republics.