Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms: An Enigma
The coat of arms of the city of Amsterdam is quite a mystery. Not much is known about its origin or its exact meaning.
In particular, there has been much speculation about the symbolism of the escutcheon — the heraldic shield with the three crosses. But here is what we do know:
Estimated reading time: 12 minutes
Table of contents
- Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms: An Enigma
- What Does XXX in Amsterdam’s City Shield Mean?
- Amsterdam Coat of Arms: Meaning Unknown
- Why is the Imperial Crown of Austria part of Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms?
- Seen in Rembrandt’s painting of the Night Watch
- Amsterdam City Flag: “The most badass city flag in the world”
- Amsterdam Emblem: Flags, umbrellas, hats, underwear, tattoos, and more
- ‘Stadswapen van Amsterdam’
- About This Article
What Does XXX in Amsterdam’s City Shield Mean?
The centrepiece of Amsterdam’s coat of arms is three white X’s on a black band running down the centre of a red shield.
You can rule out one commonly suggested explanation from the start. Forget the outdated, dusty image of Amsterdam as a city that’s into triple-X entertainment.
St. Andrew’s Crosses
The X’s are actually St. Andrew’s Crosses. They are named after the apostle Andrew who was martyred on an X-shaped cross in the 1st century AD.
The shield is the official symbol of the City of Amsterdam.
In the full coat of arms the shield appears underneath the Imperial Crown of Austria (more about that in a moment).
Amsterdam’s Official Moto: Heroic, Resolute, Merciful
Two golden lions flank the shield. The official motto of Amsterdam is on a scroll below it: Heldhaftig (Heroic), Vastberaden (Resolute), Barmhartig (Merciful). Alternative translation: Valiant, Steadfast, Compassionate.
Jokers have at times updated the phrase to, ‘Defiant, Stubborn, and Extremely Tolerant.’
The red shield with its black banner and white crosses is seen, in one form or another, throughout Amsterdam. But the full version of the Coat of Arms is far less common.
Amsterdam Coat of Arms: Meaning Unknown
Many people believe that the St. Andrew’s crosses refer to the three dangers Amsterdam faced in the Middle Ages: fire, floods, and the Black Death. However, there is no historical evidence for this interpretation.
Another possible explanation comes from people with a vivid imagination, who assume that the three X’s refer to the city’s liberal reputation. But that’s not the case either.
Finally, the three crosses do not represent the words of the official motto either, as that has only been in use since 1947. The motto was added in that year by the then Queen Wilhelmina to commemorate the behavior of Amsterdam’s citizens during World War II.1 2
Why is the Imperial Crown of Austria part of Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms?
According to an article once posted on the official website of the municipality of Amsterdam, “The heraldic origins of the coat of arms of Amsterdam are unknown.
The black banner in the centre could represent the water of the rivers Amstel and IJ at which the city is located. This is the case in the case of several other Dutch cities, such as Delft and Dordrecht.
In 1489 the small merchant city obtained the right to add to its coat of arms the crown of the monarch, Maximilian I, archduke of Austria, German King, and Holy Roman emperor.
For the merchants of Amsterdam the crown was a weighty recommendation in other elements of the Kingdom, right down the the 17th century.
By that time Amsterdam had long been a powerful trading city in a by now Protestant country which, in 1648, was formally to leave the Holy Empire of the Germany Nation on the Peace of Münster.
The crown adorning the emblem and the tower of the Westerkerk church is in fact the crown of emperor Rudolf II. The two lions were added as shield bearers in the 16th century.
In recognition of the conduct of the people of Amsterdam during the Germany occupation of 1940-1945, Queen Wilhelmina granted the city the right on 27 March 1947 to add to the coat of arms the motto, ‘Valiant, Resolute, Compassionate.’”
But that information still does not explain why the crown was given. Wikipedia to the rescue:
During the Hook and Cod wars in Holland in the 15th century, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I supported the bourgeoisie in the cities (Cod) in their fight against the nobility in the countryside (Hook).
During these wars Amsterdam loaned large amounts of money to Maximilian I. In 1489, the emperor gave Amsterdam the right to use his personal imperial crown in its coat of arms, out of gratitude for these loans.
When his successor Rudolf II created a new personal crown, Amsterdam changed the crown accordingly. After the Reformation, the Protestant Amsterdam continued to use the crown of the Catholic emperor. In 1804, the crown of Rudolf II became the Imperial Crown of Austria.
The Oldest Known Version of Amsterdam’s XXX Emblem
The heraldic shield with the Andreas crosses has been in use for a long time.
During construction work for the Noord/Zuidlijn (North/South metro line) workers found a pair of old cloth sealing pliers 3 bearing the three crosses. Archaeologists have dated the tool to 1350 — making it the oldest instance of the emblem. 4
In documents the coat of arms appears from the year 1419.
Seen in Rembrandt’s painting of the Night Watch
Rembrandt included Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms in his painting of the Night Watch, which was completed in 1642.. The St. Andrew’s crosses are visible in the decorations on Willem van Ruytenburgh‘s coat.
The Amsterdam emblem is also seen in the flag at the top left of the painting.
Amsterdam City Flag: “The most badass city flag in the world”
Now, bear with us for a moment.
The study of flags is called vexillology. An expert on flags is therefore called a vexillologist. Yes, a vex-il-lol-o-gist.
Podcast host Roman Mars loves flags. In 2015 he gave a hugely popular TED Talk on city flag design: Why city flags may be the worst-designed thing you’ve never noticed.
Mars shows many examples of poorly (or even terribly) designed flags representing American cities:
Then, while displaying Amsterdam’s coat of arms, he says:
The European equivalent of the city seal in the city coat of arms [Shows the Amsterdam Coat of Arms – see below this quote]. And this is where we can learn a lesson on how to do things right. So this is the city coat of arms of Amsterdam.
Now if this were a United States city, the flag would probably look like this [Shows the same coat of arms, but now on a blue background].But instead, the flag of Amsterdam looks like this [Shows the flag of Amsterdam]
Rather than popping the whole code arms of Amsterdam on a solid background and writing ‘Amsterdam’ below it, it takes the key elements of the escutcheon — the shield — and they turn it into the most badass city flag in the world.And because it’s so badass, those flags and crosses are found throughout Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Emblem: Flags, umbrellas, hats, underwear, tattoos, and more
Amsterdam’s XXX shield shows up on just about anything and everything: flags, buildings, hats, cups, underwear, napkins, and so on. You can have it tattooed on your body, buy it as jewelry, or eat it as chocolate.
Once you start looking for it, you see the shield everywhere you look. It comes in many shapes and forms. How many can you photograph in a day? A unique collage of your photos would look great on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Chances are you’ll buy at least one souvenir with the emblem imprinted on it.
‘Stadswapen van Amsterdam’
Studying Dutch?
Coat of arms = Wapen
City coat of arms = Stadswapen
Escutcheon = Wapenschild
Saint Andrew’s crosses = Andreaskruisen
More about Amsterdam
- Coming to Amsterdam? Gezellig!
- Here’s why the Dutch wear orange (and why you don’t want to wear orange on April 30)
- Lots of practical information in our Amsterdam Visitors Guide
About This Article
Amsterdam Coat of Arms and City Flag is written and maintained by the DutchAmsterdam team — Amsterdam locals.
It was last updated on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 to include a photograph that shows Rembrandt included the Amsterdam emblem in his famous Night Watch painting.
If you like what we do here, or just want to know when we publish or update articles, follow us at Buy Me A Coffee.
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Notes:
- This fact also contradicts the claim by some that the three crosses represent the character of St. Andrew’s character, although he is also said to have been heroic, resolute, and merciful. ↩
- There is some confusion as to which year the motto was added. Some say it was in 1946. Others say it was 1947. 1946 is correct.
The Dutch-language website februaristaking.nl commemorates the strike of February, 1941. It explains: “The motto was awarded to the capital in 1946 by the then Queen Wilhelmina as a token of royal appreciation for the resistance of the people of Amsterdam against the persecution of the Jews during the February strike in 1941 and in memory of it. For the official blessing of this motto, the Queen commissioned Pam Reuter to design an enormous flag, five meters wide and 3.5 meters high, bearing the coat of arms of Amsterdam and the new city motto. Baukje Jelles, needlepoint teacher at the First Industrial School for Female Youth, made the flag together with a group of students. On December 17, 1947, after a solemn ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk and in the presence of a crowd of people, the flag was hoisted on what was then park on Dam Square.
Queen Wilhelmina performed the ceremony: ,,May the words added to the Amsterdam coat of arms keep alive for the length of days the memory of your struggle, sustained at the cost of immeasurable sacrifices, for long years, until the final victory. May the people of Amsterdam draw from this memory time and again the strength to stand firm for freedom, justice and humanity, for the sake of which they then resisted the overwhelming power.”” ↩ - Cloth sealing pliers (Dutch: lakenloodjestang) were used to attach a lead seal to cloth, as a kind of hallmark. The seal was not only a guarantee of quality, but also indicated where the roll of fabric was made and what material it was made of. The stamping pliers were found in the soil of Damrak. In the stamp heads, the the seal of Amsterdam with the characteristic Andreas crosses can be seen three times, in great detail. ↩
- More than 700,000 archeological objects were excavated from Rokin and Damrak between 2003 and 2010. Photos of the findings are published on the website Below the Surface ↩
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