The image of the Saint Sofia Church which gave the name to the city takes up the upper right quarter (as seen from behind the shield) and a humanized picture of the ancient town of Serdica taken from an antique coin is located to the left.
In the middle is another, smaller shield (inescutcheon), with a lion rampant, a traditional Bulgarian symbol.
At the bottom is the city motto, "Расте, но не старѣе" – Raste, no ne staree ("Ever Growing, Never Aging").
The coat of arms was created for the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 by a team of three noted Bulgarian artists and specialists – Haralampi Tachev, Ivan Mrkvička and Václav Dobruský, as the city was required by the executive committee to submit a symbol in order to take part.
A simplified version was suggested by Boris Angelushev in the 1940s, with Ivan Radoev adding a five-pointed star and additionally stylizing the coat of arms in 1974.