Jauhien Kulik

The 1991-1995 Coat of Arms of Belarus designed by Jauhien Kulik

Jauhien Kulik (October 31, 1937 - January 12, 2002) was a Belarusian artist and graphic designer. He is the designer of the 1991-1995 Coat of Arms of Belarus, which was a version of the medieval symbol Pahonia.

Jauhien Kulik was born in Minsk. In 1957 he graduated from the , and in 1963 from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts.

After graduation, he worked as a designer and illustrator of books, and participated in numerous personal exhibitions. In the 1960s he became a leader of an informal group of Belarusian-speaking dissident artists in Minsk. In 1980, he created a Samizdat postcard dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of Belarusian statehood.^[1][2]

Kulik illustrated the first Anatol Titou’s book about the coats of arms of Belarusian towns (1983).^[3] Titou’s work of reconstructing the Belarusian heraldic tradition was not welcomed by the Soviet autorities: none of 1,000 copies of the book reached the state-controlled distribution and almost all copies rotted away in a warehouse. ^[4]

In the late 1980s he became an active member of the Belarusian Popular Front.^[5]

In 1991, after the restoration of the independence of Belarus, Jauhien Kulik was the main designer of the new Coat of Arms of Belarus - the Pahonia.^[5]

Jauhien Kulik died in 2002. He is buried in Kalvaryja cemetery in Minsk.^[2]

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