A new heraldic database, the Europeana Heraldica, has been opened at the National Archives Service’s web site. The archive at www.arkisto.fi/heraldica is a fully functional service, which includes versatile search functions, with connections to the image bank of the Digital Archive. The database will be a part of the National Digital Library Europeana.

In its first phase, the heraldic database will consist of material from the National Archives' Heraldica collection, including about 600 municipal coats of arms and 1000 official seals. The oldest seal is from 1309, and the newest coat of arms form 2009. In the future, the database will be supplemented by adding other national and international heraldry to it.

This is the first time that coats of arms can be searched by key words categorised in terms of heraldic concepts, including the division of the shield and other features. For example, a search with the term 'havukoro' will return nine municipal coats of arms that have this Finnish heraldic symbol. In addition to heraldic terms, searches can be made with colours or owners of the coats of arms. Search functions are available in eight languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, French, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Estonian.

The official seal collection established in 1858 is previously less know material ranging from paper seals of the Bank of Finland to the wax seal of the Wheelwright's Guild of Turku. Seals can be searched through the administrative categorisation of the database. The 1000 seals of the official seal collection are only a part of the historical seal material of the National Archives.

For further information, please contact:
Secretary of the heraldry committee, senior researcher John Strömberg, the National Archives,
tel. (09) 228 52 271
E-mail format: forename.surname@narc.fi