Tuesday 2 June 2009

Les armes de Versailles

Runner up to yesterday's theme day photo for feet were these. I caught them at the town hall which I showed you earlier on. This mosaic on the floor of the entrance shows the Versailles coat of arms: a shield with three gold fleurs de lis on a blue field in the base and a double-headed rooster in natural colours on a white field in the chief. The shield is crowned with a mural crown composed of alternating towers and fleurs de lis. It is commonly believed to have been adopted in 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution. The double-headed rooster issuant symbolizes the burgeoning freedom. Fleurs-de-lis, symbol of the French monarchy, were logically added since Louis the 16th was still King of France when the arms were created. Blue and white were the colours of the National Guards in Versailles.
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Ce fut difficile de choisir, pour le thème de juin entre la photo d'hier et celle-ci. Ces pieds sortent de la mairie, que je vous montrais ici, en foulant une mosaïque représentant les armes de Versailles. Elles se blasonnent ainsi : "d'azur aux trois fleurs de lys d'or, au chef d'argent chargé d'un coq bicéphale issant au naturel". Il est généralement admis que les armoiries de la ville datent de 1789, le coq symbolisant la liberté nouvelle, les fleurs de lys la royauté. Les couleurs bleu et blanc étaient celles de la Garde Nationale stationnée à Versailles.

19 comments:

Barb said...

beautiful, I collect fleurs-de-lis so I love it....Barb

Lowell said...

The history is fascinating, Ciel; I can't get enough of it. But you topped everything with the man walking across the mosaic. Very creative!

Tammie Lee said...

I like the feet walking across the tile work.

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

Great runner-up photo. Very creative with the tile.

gogouci said...

The motion of the feet are a very artistic addition to the tile work. Love it.

tapirgal said...

Your pix are always so interesting :) I love the feet!

Bergson said...

Les 2 photos sont adaptées pour le theme day
Ancien moderne faites votre choix

B SQUARED said...

Wonderful and symbolic.

That is the chicken said...

Very interesting...how do they keep this clean in winter? I like the feet.

Unknown said...

What a great wordplay, both arms and feet in the same picture:-)

Catherine said...

On foule du pied les armes Versaillaises ! De mieux en mieux ! On ne respecte plus rien ma pôv'Dame.

crocrodyl said...

Beautiful - great mosaic:)

Marie-Noyale said...

Catherine m'a devancé..
Qu'est ce que cela veut dire de pietiner les fleurs de Lys!!

Buck said...

Arms and legs!

Seriously, I'm privileged to be able to see Versailles through your photos and text. Thank you from far away...

Dina said...

A thought-provoking photo.
So after thinking about it, I thought my first reaction would be to walk around the coat of arms (my walking ON it might seem disrespectful). But well, the mosaic IS on the ground ...

VP said...

Beautiful mosaic and nice idea for a photo.

Halcyon said...

I like these feet. Although I always feel bad for walking over these types of things!

Sharon said...

Gorgeous mosaic. I love that you caught someone walking across it.

Sharon

EG CameraGirl said...

Seems like an interesting place to place a coat of arms. I'm not sure I'd like having someone walking all over my coat of arms. But wait! I don't HAVE a coat of arms. ;-)