Coat of Arms
The coat of arms of Nice appeared for the first time in a copy of the Regulations of Amadeus VIII, probably written in around 1430. The Nice is symbolized by a red eagle on white background, placed on three mountains, which can be described in French heraldic language as "d'argent à une aigle de gueule posée sur trois coupeaux". The arms have only undergone minor changes : the eagle has become more and more stylized, it now 'wears' a coronet for the County (Countdom) of Nice, and the three mountains are now surrounded by a stylised sea.
The presence of the eagle, an imperial emblem, shows that these arms are related to the power of the House of Savoy. The eagle standing over the three hills is a depiction of Savoy, referring to its domination over the country around Nice. The combination of white and red (argent and gules) is a reference to the colours of the flag of Savoy. The three mountains symbolize a territorial honor, without concern for geographic realism.
Read more about this topic: Nice
Famous quotes containing the words coat of, coat and/or arms:
“Commit a crime and the world is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When every Sunday afternoon
On the Green Lands I walk
And wear a coat in fashion,
Memories of the talk
Of hen wives and of queer old men
Brace me and make me strong....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)