[1] The previous emblem, which combined the traditional gold lion rampant with the pattern of the coat of arms of the Soviet Union, was abandoned since Communist rule ended in the country in 1989.

(1) The coat of arms of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be a rampant golden crowned lion on a dark red field with the shape of a shield.

Below the shield, over a white band put over the oak branches with a three-colored edge, shall be written with golden letters "Unity makes strength".

[3]The earliest example of a lion's image as the heraldic symbol of Bulgaria is documented in the Lord Marshal's Roll,[4] composed around 1294 AD and preserved in a copy from about 1640.

In its first part under №15 is represented the coat of arms of Le Rey de Bugrie or the King of Bulgaria, most probably this of Tsar Smilets (1292–1298) or may be some of his recent predecessors.

In the end of 14th century an anonymous Arab traveller, who visited the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire Tarnovo, saw and depicted three lions guardant passant gules painted on the round golden shields carried by the personal guards of Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–1395).

Gradually, new and in some cases quite different versions appeared, but the lion remained the most widespread heraldic symbol of Bulgaria and its rulers.

In the beginning of the 18th century the Croatian heraldist Pavao Ritter Vitezović in two editions of his heraldic collection from 1701 and 1702 reversed the colours of this type and thus the lion became golden and the shield dark red.

In the communist era, the traditional type of coat of arms was replaced by an emblem which preserved the golden lion rampant placed over a non-historically-justifiable oval azure field, but encircled by the ears of wheat, folded by banners, a gear-wheel, a five-pointed red star and some other elements.

[12] After the breakdown of the Bulgarian socialist republic in 1989 and several years of fierce partisan disputes, the traditional middle coat of arms from the period 1927–1946 was restored in 1991 with some minor changes.