Information about effigy: Coat of Arms of Austria

The current Coat of Arms of the Republic of Austria has been in use in its first forms by the First Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938, the Federal State (Bundesstaat Österreich) used a different coat of arms, which consisted of a double-headed eagle.

The establishment of the Second Republic in 1945 saw the return of the original arms, with broken chains added to symbolise Austria's liberation. In 1981 the Wappen der Republik Österreich (Bundeswappen) described the blazon in the Federal Constitutional Law (Austrian act) (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz, B-VG). With this change of law it was defined that the specific drawing is to codify it in its own statute law and that all other versions of the coat of arms of Austria were no longer in law. In accordance to this the Wappengesetz from 1984 and the drawing of the actual Wappen der Republik Österreich is in Austrian law. The often used ″Bundesadler″ (″federal eagle″) is only a synonymous term in colloquial language.

The heraldic description of the Coat of Arms of Austria is:
Gules a fess Argent escutcheon on the breast of an eagle displayed Sable, langued Gules, beaked Or, crowned with a mural crown of three visible merlons Or, armed Or, dexter talon holding sickle, sinister talon holding hammer, both talons shackled with chain broken Argent.

In other words, a black eagle (its beak and feet yellow, the tongue red), with open wings, crowned with a mural crown (representing a city, or state - and not a monarch), holding a hammer in its left foot (right from the point of view of the viewer) and a sickle in its right foot. Its feet are in shackles, but the chain between them is broken, symbolising a liberated Austria. On the eagle's breast, the shield of Austria divided into three horizontal stripes representing the national flag with its red-white-red colours.