The coat of arms of Slovakia is composed of a silver (argent) double cross, elevated on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. It is situated on a red (gules) early gothic shield. Extremities of the cross are amplificated, and its ends are concaved.This symbol represents the Slovak country and history. The double cross is a symbol of its Christian faith and the hills represent the three symbolic mountains of the Tatra, Fatra and Mátra (the last one is in northern Hungary).

One of the modern interpretations of the double cross is that it represents Slovakia as an heir and guardian of Christian tradition, brought to the region 12 centuries ago by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, two missionaries from the Byzantine Empire.

The three mountains/hills represent the three mountains (actually mountain ranges) Tatra, Matra and Fatra (the middle one in present-day Hungary) which symbolized the northern mountainous part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the region where Slovaks live. (The Slovak Republic, however, does not include the Matra range.) This interpretation is probably the oldest and most frequent one – it can be traced back to the 16th century, but stems probably from the 15th century. According to István Werbőczy’s “Tripartitum” from 16th century, the heaps represent the mountains in this order.

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. The second largest city is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, UN, OECD, WTO, UNESCO and other international organizations.