Heraldry of Capital Cities round the World

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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30 April 2008 15:12
 

Returning north, we turn to the Netherlands, which has to capitals Amsterdam and Den Haag (The Hauge):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Wapen_van_Amsterdam_bewerkt.PNG

Amsterdam. For more infomation se the tread about civic heraldry and the world wars.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/ArmsThe_Hague.png

Den Haag.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Coat_of_arms_Luxembourg_City.png/109px-Coat_of_arms_Luxembourg_City.png

Arms of the City of Luxembourg, capital of the Grand-Duchy of the same name.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Coat_of_arms_of_Berlin.svg/73px-Coat_of_arms_of_Berlin.svg.png

Arms of the City and State of Berlin, capital of Germany. The Bear is canting.

 
emrys
 
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emrys
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01 May 2008 11:38
 

Marcus K;57889 wrote:

Returning north, we turn to the Netherlands, which has to capitals Amsterdam and Den Haag (The Hauge):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Wapen_van_Amsterdam_bewerkt.PNG

Amsterdam. For more infomation se the tread about civic heraldry and the world wars.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/ArmsThe_Hague.png

Den Haag.


This is not correct the Netherlands has only one capital and that is Amsterdam. Den Haag ( The Hague) is where the the goverment and the Queen reside.

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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01 May 2008 17:48
 

Well Emrys, both Amsterdam and Den Haag is listed as capitals in my source Faktakalendern 1996. But I guess you know better, as you are a "native".

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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02 May 2008 06:38
 

http://www.ngw.nl/int/den/k/images/kobenhav.jpg

Arms of Copenhagen (Denmark), based on a Seal from 1254. The arms in its current form was granted by king Frederik III in 1661. Picture from International Civic Arms (ICA).

http://www.ngw.nl/int/oveur/images/torshavn.jpg

Torshavn (Faeroes Island, a self-governing part of Denmark). The canting arms which appears to be the only municipal arms of the Islands was assumed in 1920. Picture from ICA.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Oslo_komm.png

Seal of Oslo (Norway). The image shown is that of St. Hallvard who was killed trying to save a Maiden form a gang of ruffians. His dead body was thrown in to the sea with a Millstone round the neck however the body surfaced anyhow.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Helsinki.vaakuna.svg/103px-Helsinki.vaakuna.svg.png

Helsinki (Sw. Helsingfors, Finland).

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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02 May 2008 06:57
 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Stockholm_vapen.svg/251px-Stockholm_vapen.svg.png

Stockholm (Sweden). The head shown is that of Saint Erik, patron saint of Sweden. Originaly the arms showed a City Wall.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Tallinn_greater_coatofarms.png

Greater arms of Tallinn (Estonia).

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Riga_coa.gif

Riga (Latvia).

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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02 May 2008 08:40
 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Coat_of_Arms_of_Vilnius,_Lithuania.png

Greater Arms of Vilnius (Lithuania). The arms shows St. Christopher. During the first Lithuanian Republic 1918-40 Vilinus was occupied by Poland, and the Lithuanian Capital was Kaunas, the arms of which can be seen below.

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/9601/coatofarmsofkaunas28litha7.png

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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07 May 2008 13:41
Madalch
 
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Madalch
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08 May 2008 18:36
 

The arms of Kyiv, capital of Ukraine:

http://mad-alchemy.com/images/guk5.jpg

 

That’s St. Michael.  Versions have been suggested with supporters (usually saints such as Olha and Volodymyr), but have not been made official.

 

The Soviet-era arms:

http://mad-alchemy.com/images/uk7col.gif

 

These show a crossbow (from an ancient seal of Kyiv) and a leaf/flower from the chestnut tree- a long-standing emblem of the city, as highly regarded by the Kyanis as the maple leaf is to us Canucks.  Note the Soviet tradition of scrawling the name of the city in the chief of the arms.

 

Both images are from books by Andriy Grechylo.

 
WBHenry
 
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WBHenry
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08 May 2008 18:43
 

Thank you, Markus, Darren, and Ton.  An interesting thread.  Keep it coming!

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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10 May 2008 18:07
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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10 May 2008 19:10
 

The arms of the Bulgarian Capital Sofia is already shown som we land in Greece and the canting arms of Athens:

http://www.ngw.nl/int/gri/images/athens.jpg

The arms shows the Godess Pallas Athena. Picture from International Civic arms.

 

Nicosia the Capital of Cyprus dosen’t seems to have any arms.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/34/Ibb.gif/100px-Ibb.gif

Emblem of Istanbul, Capital of the Osman Empire 1453-1922.

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Ankara_flag.gif

City Flag of Ankara the Capital of modern day Turkey showing the City emblem.

 

The Imperial Standard of Byzantium House of Paleologus (1258-1453): http://eh.lenin.ru/english/2eu/greece/byz-fx1.htm. The second and third quarters are usually seen as the arms of Constantinople capital of the Empire (Today Istanbul).

 
Madalch
 
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Madalch
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11 May 2008 01:30
 

When I lived in Germany, one of my favourite places to visit was Prague (Praha).  For one thing, my brother-in-law lived there, so I didn’t have to fork out for a hotel, and always had someone to drink with.  For another, it was the only city in Europe where one could go to a good restaurant and sit down to a full meal (venison, wild boar, whatever) with alcoholic drink for under $5-  Canadian (about $3.50 US at the time).  I’m sure that’s changed by now, but I’ll remember it fondly forever.

I also remember getting some fine books on Czech heraldry for about $20 each, and finding a bookstore near the university that carried postcards showing the civic heraldry of nearly the entire country.

 

http://www.ngw.nl/int/cze/p/images/praha.jpg

 

Bratislava (capital of Slovakia), on the other hand, was less than impressive- I was there on a Saturday, and most things seemed to be closed for the weekend.  I did manage to get some Slovak books on civic heraldry- parts 2 and 3 of a trilogy, but was forced to order the first one from the esteemed Ralf Hartemink, who manages the International Civic Arms website where I borowed these images.

 

http://www.ngw.nl/int/slo/b/images/bratisla.jpg

 

Budapest, capital of Hungary, is a very nice city.  If you choose your restautant carefully, you may find one with prices similar to those found in Prague (i.e., dirt cheap), but it’s more common to find them with prices geared towards tourists (very expensive).  Hungarian books on civic heraldry seem to cover the heraldry of the kingdom of Hungary rather than the current country- they still seem to be a bit bitter about the loss of Slovakia, Slovenia, a great swath of Romania, and a little chunk of Ukraine which includes the village where my father-in-law was born.

 

The arms of Budapest are a combination of the old arms of Buda (Gules, a castle Or) and Pest (Azure a castle triple-towered Or), two cities which were amalgamated when the first bridge was built between them.  In Soviet times, the supportes were removed, and a star Or was placed in chief.  The crown is that of St. Stephen, once king and now patron saint of Hungary.

 

http://www.ngw.nl/int/hon/b/images/budapest.jpg

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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11 May 2008 08:29
 

Nice personal tuch Darren. I might add to the arms of Prague that the Lions are from the arms of Bohemia and the Flags in the Crest are those of the districts of the City.

About Hungary yes the Treaty of Trianon in 1919 when the Kingdom of Hungary was drasticaly reduced leaving sizeable Hungarian minorities outside its borders, is still bitterly felt. The Actual St. Stephen’s Crown ended up at Fort Knox in the USA following World War II. It was returned to Hungary on 6 January 1978 by President Jimmy Carter and on 1 January 2000 the Crown togheter with the sceptre, orb and coronation sword was moved from the National Museum to the Hungarian Parliament.

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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14 May 2008 05:58
 

The greater arms of the capital of Serbia Belgrade(Beograd):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Coat_of_Arms_Belgrade.png

The white castle is canting as the name means the white city. The waves denote the Danube and Sava rivers. The shield is placed on the breast of the bicephalous white Eagle of Serbia and below is placed the decorations bestowed on the city : the French Legion of Honour, the Serbian Order of Karadjorde, Yugoslav Order of the National Hero and Czechoslovak Military Cross. The small shield shows the arms of Stari Grad that is the Old Town of Belgrade.

 
Marcus K
 
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Marcus K
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14 May 2008 12:05
 

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/h/hr)zg-zg.gif

Zagreb (Croatia). Picture from Zeljko Heimer FOTW.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/s/si)061.gif

Ljubljana (Slovenia). Picture from Zeljko Heimer FOTW.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:OpstiniMK.png

Skopje (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).