Coat of arms of amsterdam meaning three. In love with travel. Religious strife and rebellion

Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful and charming European capitals. Permeated with hundreds of picturesque canals, the city has a centuries-old unique and interesting story. Reflection of some of its milestones are the flag and coat of arms of Amsterdam.

Northern Venice

As soon as romantic Amsterdam is not called, it is the Venice of the North, the capital of debauchery, and the diamond capital of Europe, the Babylon of our days. The largest is extraordinarily beautiful. Its name comes from two words: the name of the river - "Amstel" and "dam" - "dam".

The city acquired the status of the capital in 1814. It is located in IJ and Amstel in the province of North Holland in the western part of the country and is connected to the North Sea by the Nordsee Canal. The area of ​​the city is 219.4 km 2 , according to the latest data, a little more than 800 thousand people live in it - representatives of 177 nationalities.

Greenpeace, the headquarters of the seven largest companies in the world, including ING Groep and Philips, is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The sights of the Dutch capital (the Hermitage on the Amstel, the red light district, the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, etc.) annually attract about 4.2 million tourists.

City coat of arms

The coat of arms of Amsterdam consists of three elements: a shield on which three St. Andrew's crosses are depicted, a crown and two lions on the sides.

In the center of the composition is a red heraldic shield. It is crossed by a black stripe, on which three white crosses are depicted - these are the symbols of the city. It is noteworthy that the patron saint of the capital is Nicholas the Wonderworker. Crosses are also featured on the flag of Amsterdam. There are two interpretations of their meaning. According to the first, they symbolize the three main virtues of the city: mercy, firmness and valor. According to the second version, popular, they are associated with three threats to Amsterdam: an epidemic, water and fire.

The second element of the coat of arms is the crown of the Austrian Empire, which has repeatedly changed its appearance. The King of Germany Maximilian I granted the right to decorate Amsterdam with this monarchical symbol in 1489 in gratitude for the loans and merits provided. After his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in 1508, the crown on the coat of arms was replaced with an imperial crown. The former appearance was returned only in the seventeenth century.

The third element of the coat of arms - lions supporting the shield and the crown, they appeared in the 16th century, when Holland became a republic.

City motto on the coat of arms

The lower part of the coat of arms of the city is decorated with three ribbons, which contain the official motto of the city - Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig. It was presented to Amsterdam in 1947 in recognition of the courage of its citizens during the Second World War. In translation, it sounds like "Valiant, Decisive, Sympathetic."

Until recently, the ruler tried to avoid participation in the war, until the moment when Germany captured the country in May 1940. The queen refused to submit to the invaders and left Holland, heading a government in exile. Her name became the slogan of the Dutch resistance movement.

Flag of Amsterdam: adoption and appearance

The flag is the symbol of a city or state. As a rule, its cloth consists of several colors. It all depends on what exactly given country wants to display through it.

The official flag of Amsterdam was adopted on 5 February 1975. It consists of three horizontal equal-sized stripes: On the middle black stripe are oblique white crosses of St. Andrew. The appearance of the flag, as you might guess, is completely based on the heraldic shield of Amsterdam.

Meaning of the flag of Amsterdam

The color and design of the flag completely duplicate the shield depicted on the coat of arms. have a meaning similar to the motto of the city and reflect its three main qualities. The exact meaning of the colors is not known. It is assumed that the black stripe may mean the Amstel River, on which the city stands. The conclusion is based on the fact that the middle stripe means a body of water on the coats of arms of two other Dutch cities: Delft and Dordrecht. Historians also suggest that the black and red colors on the flag come from the coat of arms of the noble Persein family, which once had quite extensive possessions in Amsterdam.

St. Andrew's crosses and similar colors can also be seen on the flags of two other Dutch cities, Amstelveen and Ouder Amstel.

Flag of the national movement "Resistance"

Verzetsvlag is another flag of Amsterdam. It looks like a white rectangular canvas, in the center of which is the coat of arms of the city. This flag is used only on special occasions, it is hoisted in honor of Victory Day over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The coat of arms and flags have long become peculiar sights of the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Symbols are often depicted on souvenir products. Every year, along with ceramic bells and windmills, wooden clogs (miniature and life-size), porcelain dolls, magnets, cheeses and tulips, thousands of them are sold to guests of the city.

From the Crosses of three silver Saints Andrew, the Imperial Crown of Austria, two golden lions and the motto of Amsterdam. Several heraldic elements have their basis in the history of Amsterdam. Crosses and a crown can be found as decorations at various locations in the city.

heraldic elements

Coat of arms shield

AT coat of arms of Amsterdam the shield area of ​​the coat of arms (heraldic shield) is red. The area is charged with Crosses of three vertically ordered silver or white Saint Andrews on top of pale black. Area and pale result in three vertical panels in colors red and black.

Some people say that these three St. Andrew's crosses represent the three dangers of ancient Amsterdam: fire, floods, and the Black Death. That theory, however, has no historical basis. The crosses probably originate in the shield of the noble Persijn family. The knight Jan Persijn was the "lord" of Amstelledamme (Amsterdam) from 1280 to 1282. In the shields of the coat of arms of Dordrecht and Delft, two other cities in Holland, pale refers to irrigate. By analogy with this, black borders the shield of the coat of arms of Amsterdam, would refer to the river Amstel. Both colors and crosses are also found in the coat of arms of two cities near Amsterdam: the village of Uder-Amstel on the banks of the river Amstel to the southeast and Nieuwer-Amstel (now a suburb of Amstelveen) to the southwest. Both villages were also the property of the Persijna family.

The shield of arms forms the base for the flag of Amsterdam, but the stripes and crosses are placed horizontally on the flag instead of vertically. The crosses of the three Saint Andrews are used in the emblem of the city government and also as decorations on the typical Amsterdam bollards called amsterdammertjes.

Imperial crown

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 struggle against the nobility in the countryside (Hook). During these wars, Amsterdam loaned large sums of money to Maximilian I. In 1489 the emperor gave Amsterdam the right to use his personal imperial crown in her coat of arms in gratitude for these loans. When his successor Rudolf II created a new personal crown, Amsterdam changed the crown accordingly. Even after the Reformation, Protestant Amsterdam continued to use the crown of the Catholic Emperor. In 1804 Rudolph II's crown became the Imperial Crown of Austria. In the coat of arms of Amsterdam, the Imperial crown is placed on top of the shield of the coat of arms.

The Imperial Crown can be found independently at several locations in Amsterdam. The tower of the Westerkerk Protestant Church is crowned with an Imperial crown and a bridge, the Blue Bridge is adorned with several Imperial crowns.

golden lions

Supporters of the shield of the coat of arms are two unbridled golden lions. The branch of the lions stand on is a stone support. Lions were added to the coat of arms in the 16th century.

Motto

During the strike in February 1941 in Amsterdam, for the first time among the European non-Jewish people, the Heraldic Chamber opposed the persecution of Jews). These coats of arms are all effectively in the public domain, as municipalities cannot claim copyright. On the contrary, the actual use of the coat of arms to offer any kind of official endorsement is limited, more comparable to a trademark than copyright. The coat of arms may only be used by others than the city with the express permission of the municipal government. In general permission not granted to others because the coat of arms defines the city of Amsterdam. Individual elements such as the Crosses of the Three Saints Andrew or the shield of the coat of arms may be used by others without permission.

Notes

1. Original quote in Dutch: "Nooit zal ik de ontroering vergeten, die zich wagon ons meester maakte, toen ooggetuigen ons te Londen het eerste bericht brachten, hoe gans een bevolking zich in daadwerkelijk verzet gekeerd, had wagon tegen de onmenselijkheid een wrede dwingeland."

Amsterdam circa 1662. Canal rings completed.

Amsterdam and its environs around 1770. expansion came to a standstill.

Excavations between 2005 and 2012 have found evidence that Amsterdam's origins are much older than "only" the twelfth century. During the construction of the "Lijn Nord-Zuid" Metro, archaeologists discovered, about 30 meters below street level, axes, a stone hammer and some pottery, all dating from the Neolithic (New Stone Age). This would mean Amsterdam, or its predecessor, would have seen human habitation from around 2600 BC.

medieval feudalism

GIFT LETTER 1275.

Religious strife and rebellion

In the first half of the 16th century, with the advent of the Protestant Reform, there were important Mennonite (commonly called Anabaptist) communities, formed in Amsterdam. Religious tensions grew throughout the empire until in 1534 the Anabaptists of Münster revolted and Emperor Charles V issued a decree persecuting all members of this church. Within two years of Amsterdam's rule, 71 Mennonites are executed and many more are exiled. Executions would continue more sporadically until the 1550s.

The second half of the 16th century brought an uprising in the Low Countries against the Habsburg king Philip II of Spain. The rebellion was mainly driven by a lack of political power for the local nobility and a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics, the latter supporting the crown. Although Amsterdam started the war on the side of the Crown, he changed sides from Alteratie 1578 and gave his support to William I of Orange. The uprising led to the Eighty Years' War and eventually Dutch independence.

One result of the uprising was that Amsterdam enjoys a certain degree of religious tolerance. Officially only Calvinist worship was allowed, but in practice Catholic "Secret Churchs" in private homes were tacitly allowed, as were Lutheran and Mennonite ones. In the city a large Roman Catholic minority remained, but most of the people belonged to the Calvinist Reformed Church and other Protestant denominations. However, the holding of any public office was limited to members of the official Reformed Church.

During these years religious wars raged throughout Europe and many people fled to the Dutch Republic and Amsterdam, where they sought asylum. Wealthy Jews from Spain and Portugal, Protestants from Antwerp and Huguenots from France sought safety in Amsterdam.

"Golden Age" (1585-1672)

Seventeenth century Amsterdam Golden Age. Shipping from the city sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil and Africa, and formed the basis of a worldwide trading network. The merchants of Amsterdam financed expeditions to the four corners of the world, and they acquired overseas possessions that formed the seeds of later Dutch colonies. The most influential of these trading groups was the Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, which became the first multinational corporation to issue shares to finance its business. By allowing seafarers to invest in the cargo that they are transporting, this created an incentive for individual workers to be assigned to the goods they carried and tightened by the allegiances of corporations where results before they were a seafarer migration agent. Rembrandt painted in this century, and the city expanded considerably around its canals during this time. Amsterdam was the most important transshipment point in Europe and was the world's leading financial center (a position later taken over by London).

Government by regents

By the middle of 1660 Amsterdam had reached its optimum population (around 200,000) for the level of trade, trade and agriculture then available to support it. The city contributed the largest quota in taxes to the States of Holland, which in turn contributed more than half of the quota to the States General. Amsterdam is also one of the most reliable in handling tax claims and has therefore been able to use the threat of withholding such payments to good effect.

Amsterdam canal, s. 1686

Amsterdam is governed by a body of regents, a large, but closed, oligarchy with control over every aspect of city life, and a dominant voice in Dutch foreign affairs. Only people with sufficient wealth and long enough residence within the city can join the ruling class. The first step of the ambitious and wealthy merchant family was to arrange a marriage with the longtime regent family. In the 1670s, one such alliance was that of the Trip family (the Amsterdam branch of the Swedish arms makers) with the burgomaster's son Valckenier extended the influence and patronage available to the latter and strengthened their council dominance. The oligarchy in Amsterdam thus gained strength from its breadth and openness. In small towns, family interest may unite members on political decisions, but contractions through marriages may degrade the quality of members. In Amsterdam, the network was so large that members of the same family could be linked to opposing factions and pursue widely divided interests. The young men who rose to positions of power in the 1670s and 1680s consolidated their positions in 1690 and even into the new century.

The regents of Amsterdam provided good services to the residents. They are largely spent on waterways and other necessary infrastructure, as well as municipal almshouses for the elderly, hospitals and churches. The Regents' favored private investment also helped improve living standards, as the construction of commercially viable and advanced mills brought more efficient processing plants and irrigation pumps to the region, enabling one of the earliest industrial-oriented economies.

Dam Square in Amsterdam, 17th century

Amsterdam's wealth was generated by its trade, which in turn was incurred by the reasonable encouragement of entrepreneurs, regardless of their background. This arrangement was supported by low interest rates for private businesses, while communities ruled by monarchies at the time sought to siphon profits. This open door policy has been interpreted as evidence of a tolerant ruling class. But religious tolerance was practiced for the convenience of the city. Thus, wealthy Sephardic Jews from Portugal were welcomed and granted all privileges except those of citizenship, but poor Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe were much more scrutinized and those who became dependent on the city were encouraged to move on. Likewise, securing a corps of Huguenot immigrants was done in 1681, when Louis XIV's religious policy begins to rule these Protestants outside of France; no encouragement was given to those evicted by the Dutch from the countryside or other towns in Holland. The regents encouraged immigrants to build churches and provided plots or buildings for churches and temples for all but the most radical sects and native Catholics by 1670 (although even Catholics could practice quietly in the chapel inside the Beguinhof).

immigration

The great influence of German immigration can now be seen in surnames, which are often German. The integration of immigrants was smooth. It was not difficult to find work as a craftsman, but craftsmen were forced to join guilds to serve in the city patrol and cooperate with the local area in order to compete with other areas. These were powerful institutions that led to rapid integration, especially since all these institutions were mostly filled with immigrants or children of immigrants. The city council of Amsterdam was made up of people with all kinds of backgrounds: Dutch, German, Flemish, French, Scottish.

pestilence

However, the state of trade of the city meant that it suffered from an outbreak of bubonic plague from 1663 to 1666, believed to have originated from Algiers to Amsterdam. (A plague also broke out in mall London, June 1665) Although there was little initial effect, the influence grew in the autumn of 1663 and in 1664 the wife and youngest daughter of the well-known art collector Jan J. Hinlopen, and Rembrandt's partner Hendrickje Stoffels, fell victim to it, that autumn. According to Samuel Pepys, for several weeks at the end of 1663, ships from Hamburg and Amsterdam were quarantined for thirty days. In 1664, 24,148 people were buried in Amsterdam. Over 10% of the population died during this period - anyone who came into contact with the plague was at risk. At the time, people assumed the plague was caused by the digging of new canals.

Surprisingly, tobacco smoke was seen as an effective prophylactic against the plague. With the prospect of plague as well as war with England looming, the English ambassador commented in May 1664: "There are dead last week at number 338 in Amsterdam, and if the plague thus increases within, and Warre His Majestie without him, there will be there is little need for this huge new town that they are doing there." Wealthy people fled the cities to avoid disease, but in the worst pandemic week of 1664 there were 1,041 burials in Amsterdam compared to 7,000 at the end of the summer of 1665 in London, a city twice its size. The mayors warned the public that eating lettuce, spinach or prunes could be unhealthy. Vroedschap closed the theater allowing performances to resume only in 1666, although Jan J. Hinlopen's own death in 1666 is attributed to the plague. The sailors on the ships at sea were relatively safe.

Decline and modernization

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw a decline in Amsterdam's wealth. The Dutch Republic's wars with the United Kingdom and France took their toll on Amsterdam. During the Napoleonic Wars, Amsterdam's fortunes reached their lowest point; However, with the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, things began to slowly improve. In Amsterdam, new designs were started by people like Samuel Sarphati who found their inspiration in Paris.

At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution reached Amsterdam. The Amsterdam-Rhine Kanaal was dug to give Amsterdam a direct connection to the Rhine and the Noordzee Kanaal to give the port a connection to the North Sea. Both projects improved communications with the rest of Europe and the world dramatically. They gave the economy a big boost.

The Industrial Revolution brought a huge influx of migrant workers from the Dutch countryside to the city of Amsterdam. This happened during the rise of socialism in Amsterdam. The Dutch authorities tried to destroy socialism by treating socialists with violence. During the 1880s and 1890s, fights between police and socialists occurred on a weekly basis. A notable event was the Palingoproer (eel riots) in 1886, when 26 demonstrators were killed in the army after the police failed to control a violent crowd of people watching at the banned game of eel-pulling. The other was the Orange Riots of 1887, which included the destruction of a socialist pub by the orangists and the arrest of the defending socialists, while the orangists were not punished at all. The most popular socialist leaders of the 1890s were those who were in prison most of the time. One socialist was so angry with the police that he tried to kill the chief police superintendent. He was shot through a hole in the caretaker's hat and was sentenced to many years in prison after being beaten by the police. After his release, he was greeted as a hero during a parade with a laurel wreath on his head, while people wept, in crowded streets filled with workers from Amsterdam.

The late 19th century is sometimes referred to as Amsterdam's second golden age. New museums, the Central Railway Station and the Concertgebouw were built. Also built was Stelling van Amsterdam, a unique ring of 42 forts and lands that could be flooded to protect the city from attack. The population of Amsterdam grew significantly during this period.

20th century

During the First World War, the Netherlands remained neutral, but Amsterdam suffered the consequences of the war when food became scarce. When the working women of the class began to rob the army's supply ship, the military brought in. The workers joined their wives in the robbery and the soldiers opened fire on them. Six people were killed and almost 100 were injured.

During the interwar period, the city continued to expand, and most notably west of the Jordaan district in Frederik's Hendrikbuurt and surrounding areas.

In 1932, the dike separating the Zuider Zee from the North Sea, at the Afsluitdijk, was completed. Zuider Zee was no more. The new lake behind the dam was called the IJselmeier. For the first time in its history, Amsterdam had no open communication with the sea.

Anne Frank statue

During World War II, German troops occupied the city. Over 100,000 Jews were deported, including the famous Anne Frank, almost completely destroying the Jewish community. Before the war, Amsterdam was the center of the world's diamond trade. Since this trade was largely in the hands of Jewish entrepreneurs and artisans, the diamond trade largely disappeared.

Amsterdam made a bid for the 1952 Olympic Games (Summer Games) but was unsuccessful. The games went to Helsinki.

During the 1970s, the number of foreign immigrants, primarily from Suriname, Turkey and Morocco, grew strongly. This increase led to an exodus of people to the "growth cities" in Purmerende, Almere and other cities near Amsterdam. However, areas like Pape and Jordan, which were formerly working class, began to look for a place to live for the new wealthy yuppies and students. Amsterdam, which used to be a poor city in the Netherlands has turned into an economically wealthy city, thanks to a new economic trend towards a service economy rather than an industrial economy.

In 1992, an El Al cargo plane crashed into the Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam Zuidoost. This disaster is called Bijlmerramp resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people.

At the beginning of the millennium, social problems such as security, ethnic discrimination and segregation between religious and social groups began to develop. 45% of Amsterdam's population has non-Dutch parents. Large social groups are people from Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, Morocco and Turkey. Amsterdam is characterized by (perceived) social tolerance and diversity. Social tolerance was threatened by the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh on November 2, 2004 by Mohamed Bouyeri, an Islamic fundamentalist. The mayor of Amsterdam, Jobs Cohen and his alderman for the integration of Abutaleb have formulated a "keep things together" policy that includes social dialogue, tolerance and crackdowns on those who break the law.

social struggle

The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s made Amsterdam magic center(magic center) of Europe. The use of soft drugs was tolerated, and this policy made the city a popular destination for hippies. The period 1966–1986, however, was described by Gert Mak as "twenty years' urban war" The ( twintigjarige stadsoorlog): a long period of social struggle between the city's radical youth and its government. The war began with the emergence of a local anarchist movement, Prova, so called because they liked to provoke the authorities and bourgeois society with (non-violent) events and Dada-inspired by absurdism. The Amsterdam police hit back at Provo with force; Mak explains the extreme police brutality towards events in the direct after World War II, when Queen Beatrix's coronation takes place inside the New Church on Dam Square. The loss of public sympathy stemming from this event eventually led to the downfall of the squatter movement, and by the mid-1980s it was effectively marginalized.

21st century

In the early years of the twenty-first century, the city center of Amsterdam successfully attracted large numbers of tourists through campaigns such as I Amsterdam. Between 2012 and 2015, 3,000 hotel rooms were built, Airbnb added 11,000 more accommodations, and annual visitor numbers grew from 10 million to 17 million. Real estate prices have risen, making the center inaccessible to city dwellers, while local shops make way for tourists targeting them. These developments have prompted comparisons to Venice, a city already overwhelmed by the influx of tourists.

Construction of a subway line connecting the part of the city north of the IJ to downtown was started in 2003. The project is controversial because it cost three times over budget by 2008 due to concerns about damage to downtown buildings and because construction had to stop and restart several times.

Since 2014, a sharper focus has been placed on urban regeneration and renewal, especially in areas directly bordering the city centre, such as Frederik Hendrikbuurt. This urban renewal and expansion of the traditional city center is part of Amsterdam's Structural Vision 2040 initiatives.

Cultural life

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the cultural life in Amsterdam consisted mainly of festivals. During the last part of the 16th century, the Amsterdams Rederijkerskamer (Chamber of Rhetoric Dietrich Nikolaus Winckel. At the end of this century, the Rijksmuseum and the Gemeentelijk museum were built. In 1888, the Concertgebouworkest was established. From the 20th century came cinema, radio and television. Although studios in Hilversum and Aalsmeeri, Amsterdam's influence on programming is very strong After World War II, popular culture became the dominant cultural phenomenon in Amsterdam.

History of the municipality

When the municipality was created during the French occupation, it covered the city (then only consisting of the central part inside the canals) and the immediate surroundings, less than 10% of the current municipality. As the city grew, it annexed several neighboring municipalities:

Referendum. The opposition was not so much against the creation of a provincial city as it was against the division of the city into parts. Opponents feared that this would destroy the unity of the city. After the referendum, the city's proposal to the province was frozen. However, since 1995, the city parts have gradually become more self-reliant, and neighboring cities have been drawn into the city, politically and economically. In a sense, the provincial city has arrived in the form of "Greater Amsterdam".

further reading

• Cotterell, Geoffrey. Amsterdam: City Life (1972)
• Israel, Jonathan I. The Dutch Republic, Its Rise, Greatness and Fall 1477-1806 (1995)

States with ancient heraldic traditions have chosen the most beautiful elements for their official symbol. Today, the coat of arms looks dignified and stylish, demonstrating loyalty to traditions and the chosen constitutional order.

Rich palette

The coat of arms of the capital of the Netherlands is designed in classical traditions, it contains different elements. At the same time, it is impossible to say which of them are the main ones, which ones play a secondary role. The coat of arms consists of four main parts:

• a stylish shield designed in black, red and white;
• two shield-holders, predatory lions, standing on the base;
• city ​​motto;
• imperial crown.

The palette of colors that was used to draw the elements of the emblem composition cannot be called harmonious. Each of the parts looks stylish separately, when all together, it seems that there are too many colors and they do not look next to each other.

Symbolism of individual parts and elements

Officially, the modern coat of arms was approved by the Dutch authorities in 1816, at the same time, looking at its elements, it becomes clear that the symbols used are much more ancient.

For example, the shape of the shield and its color (scarlet), one nuance - a black stripe with three white (silver) oblique crosses runs through the center, a case unique for heraldic practice.

Scientists still cannot put forward a single version of what these oblique crosses symbolize. Some experts correlate them with the crosses of St. Andrew the First-Called, the second hints at the natural disasters that the Dutch faced in the past, among these negative factors are plague, flood and fire.

Imperial crown and lions

Experts in the field of heraldry say that the first crown appeared on the coat of arms of Amsterdam back in 1489, this is a gift from King Maximilian I. In 1508, the headdress was replaced, and the crown worn by Maximilian himself appeared in the image. Three hundred years later, this headdress of the monarch was also replaced, this time with the Austrian imperial crown, which is present on the coat of arms to this day.

Shield holders, handsome lions, appeared on the heraldic symbol of Amsterdam only at the end of the 16th century; they support not only the shield, but also the crown. The motto is written on a silver scroll, the words can be translated as "Valor, courage, compassion." This motto was added to the image in 1947, after the heroism of the Dutch, shown during the war with Nazi Germany.

Elements

First element

In the very center of the composition and presented in the form of a heraldic shield. The shield is red, in the middle of which a wide black stripe runs vertically, on which there are three white oblique crosses. There are two versions of these crosses, the first version says that these symbols represent the crosses of St. Andrew the First-Called, and according to the second version, these symbols characterize the danger that can threaten the city, namely: the water element - a flood, the fire element - fire and plague , carrying the sea.

Second element

The Austrian imperial crown, which changed its appearance several times. The first crown was included in the design of the coat of arms in 1489, when the king of Germany - Maximilian I, for the services rendered, the city was awarded the right to decorate its coat of arms with the symbols of the royal crown. In 1508, the crown was replaced by the imperial crown of Maximilian, who was crowned Holy Roman Emperor. At the beginning of the 17th century, Maximilian's crown was replaced by that of Emperor Rudolf II, which became the Austrian Imperial Crown.

Third element

Lions holding a shield and a crown on both sides, they appeared on the coat of arms at the end of the 16th century, during this period Amsterdam and the province were united into a single Republic of the Netherlands, which included seven more provinces.