Hamburg and Antwerp

Hello again! I'm back to posting photos of the arms on #1 Broadway. Today's feature is the double arms of the port cities of Hamburg and Antwerp. Amazing that these were done in mosaic tiles!

Photo by Floyd Smith Sanford, III

Regarding Hamburg:
The shield pictured above seems most closely related to the city's seal from the year 1245, here:

Courtesy Wikipedia.

As with so many heraldic creations, the seal changed over time as did the arms. But I am glad that the artist for the mosaics at #1 Broadway chose to model his design upon this lovely and gracious 13th century piece.

According to Wikipedia, "The oldest coat of arms of Hamburg has been retained on a city seals int the 12th and 13th century. During the centuries the towers, walls, pinnacles and symbols of the coat of arms of Hamburg changed several times, without changing in character. The central castle was shown with opened doors sometimes with closed doors and with a portcullis."

There must be a moat in front of that door, don't you think?

The mosaic shield of Antwerp is a faithful representation of the city's:

Courtesy Wikipedia.

I found a full description of the arms -- in Dutch -- here: http://www.felixarchief.be/Unrestricted/Folder.aspx?document_id=09041acf800008be&format=pdf. The arms are fascinating and have gone through several iterations.

In the article, at least you can see the arms broken down by elements and perhaps make out bits of the text here and there. Translation, anyone??

More shields soon!