Coat of arms of Sofia

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.