The coat of arms of Chile dates from 1834 and was designed by the English artist Charles Wood Taylor. It is made up by a figurative background divided in two equal parts: the top one is blue and the bottom, red. A five pointed white star is in the centre of the shield. This background is supported in one side by a condor, the most significant bird of prey from the Andes, and in the other, by a huemul, the most singular and rare mammal of the Chilean territory. Both animals have in their heads the navy's golden crown, symbol of the heroic deeds of the Chilean Navy in the Pacific Ocean.
The coat of arms is crowned by a three feathered crest; each feather bearing one colour: blue, white and red. This crest was a symbol of distinction that former Presidents of the Republic used to wear on their hats.
Underneath the coat of arms and on the ellaborated pedestal, there is a white band with the motto: "Por la Razón o la Fuerza" (By reason or force).
This emblem is the last of a series of variations due to diverse circumstances and understandings.
Read more about Coat Of Arms Of Chile: The First Coat of Arms, Transitory Coat of Arms
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)
“We want some coat woven of elastic steel, stout as the first, and limber as the second. We want a ship in these billows we inhabit. An angular, dogmatic house would be rent to chips and splinters, in this storm of many elements. No, it must be tight, and fit to the form of man, to live at all; as a shell is the architecture of a house founded on the sea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“True. There is
a beautiful Jesus.
He is frozen to his bones like a chunk of beef.
How desperately he wanted to pull his arms in!
How desperately I touch his vertical and horizontal axes!
But I can’t. Need is not quite belief.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)