Noile simboluri heraldice ale oraşelor Criuleni, Glodeni, Străşeni / The new heraldic symbols of the towns of Criuleni, Glodeni, Străşeni

On June 7, 2016, the National Committee of Heraldry under the President of the Republic of Moldova launched a circular letter to the authorities of all the cities without symbols approved and registered in the General Armorial of the Republic of Moldova. The request has been to return to the procedure of elaboration and formalization of the civic coats of arms and flags. Following this appeal, since the end of 2016, there has been an increase of interest in civic heraldry and vexillology by the authorities concerned. Thus, the elaboration process started or was resumed after the old delays in the towns of Biruinţa, Cantemir, Corneşti, Criuleni, Ghindeşti, Glodeni, Lipcani, Străşeni, Taraclia and others, some of which succeeded in finalizing the registration procedure. The author reports about the coats of arms and flags of three of these cities, which have the status of “raion” (=district) residence: the town of Criuleni (approved and registered in 2017, authors: Silviu Andrieş-Tabac, Alexandru Moraru, Veaceslav Vatamaniuc; painter: Veaceslav Vatamaniuc), town of Glodeni (2018, authors: Vitalii Şuberneţkii, Piotr Balobin, Constantin Bogatov, Silviu Andrieş-Tabac; painter: Alexandr Cernovskii) and municipality of Străşeni (2018, author: Silviu Andrieş-Tabac, painter: Mariana Şlapac). In all three cases, the course from the first projects to the official ones was a sinuous and difficult one, so that solving the problem of symbols was perceived as an achievement by local authorities, but also as a relief by the National Committee of Heraldry.