Tuesday, February 5

"Je Maintiendrai"


The Dutch Royal coat of Arms is made of three parts:

1. "Je Maintiendrai" is the motto, and comes from the House of Chalon
2. The lion comes from the House of Nassau
3. The sword and bundle of arrows in the lion’s paw (enlarge the picture) come from the coat of arms of the States General of the Republic of the United Provinces (17th and 18th centuries). The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces. The arrows also symbolise cooperation: individually they are vulnerable, but together they are strong.

I made this picture on Het Plein next to the Binnenhof, and as you can see, this building is in need of some renovation!

3 comments:

FĂ©nix - Bostonscapes said...

Those are some funny looking lions!

The building could use a good steam power-cleaning, yes.

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi Lezard,
This lions-sign makes me always feel 'home' whenever I see it.

Lezard said...

Thanks for your comments!
Joann, it is a strange lion though, I still need to find out why the House of Nassau chose this animal in the first place!