Haute-Savoie — Coat of Arms

Blazon

Argent, an escutcheon Gules charged with a cross of the field; chapé Azure.

Reading the shield

• An escutcheon Gules charged with a cross of the field — a small red shield bearing a cross of the field’s colour, silver: the arms of Savoy.
• Argent … chapé Azure — the silver field is covered from the top by blue, falling from a point at the centre of the chief to the sides, like a cape. The chapé evokes the mountains.

In 1950, in Marques symboliques des départements français, the heraldist Robert Louis gave the two Savoyard departments a pair of twin shields. Both carry the same small shield of Savoy. What changes is the landscape around it, and the colours are reversed:

• Haute-Savoie: a silver field with a blue chapé — a peak coming down from the top, for the mountains.
• Savoie: a blue field with a silver chaussé — points rising from the base, for the valleys.

Read together, the two shields make one picture: Savoy between its peaks and its valleys. Neither department adopted its design.

Haute-Savoie has no official coat of arms. Like Savoie, it uses by tradition the arms of the old duchy, Gules, a cross Argent — the white cross on red that both departments created on 15 June 1860 inherited from the house of Savoy. It appears on the logos of both departments.

Many towns of Haute-Savoie set the cross in their own arms: Bonneville, Combloux, Évian-les-Bains, Frangy, Saint-Pierre-en-Faucigny and others. The history of the cross, from the seal of 1143 to the flag flown today, is told on the Savoie page.

Does Haute-Savoie have an official coat of arms?

No. By tradition it uses the arms of the old duchy of Savoy, Gules, a cross Argent, shared with Savoie. The shield shown here was proposed by Robert Louis in 1950 and never adopted.

What is the difference between the arms of Savoie and Haute-Savoie?

In Robert Louis’s proposals, both carry the shield of Savoy. Haute-Savoie has a silver field with a blue chapé for the mountains; Savoie a blue field with a silver chaussé for the valleys.

What does the blue on the Haute-Savoie arms mean?

The blue chapé, coming down from the top of the shield like a peak, evokes the mountains.

• French Wikipedia, Haute-Savoie, section « Héraldique » — no official arms, the duchy’s arms in use, the towns, Robert Louis’s two designs
• French Wikipedia, Armorial des départements de France — the blazons and meanings of the chapé and the chaussé

The arms are described from the published blazon and the texts above, not from the drawing.

Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 1 October 2026.