What do the three crosses (XXX) of Amsterdam mean?
The three crosses on Amsterdam’s flag and coat of arms are Saint Andrew’s crosses. Nobody knows for certain why the city chose them. They most likely come from the arms of the Persijn family, who were lords of the area in the 13th century. The popular story that they stand for fire, flood and plague is a legend.
What they are
The city’s shield is red, with a black band down the middle and three white crosses on the band, one above another. Each is a Saint Andrew’s cross, the X-shaped cross on which the apostle Andrew is said to have been crucified.
The flag is the same shield turned on its side: red, black, red, with the three crosses in a row. It was only adopted officially in 1975, though it had been flown long before that.
Where they probably come from
The likeliest explanation is a family. The Persijns were nobles who owned a great deal of land around the Amstel, and a knight called Jan Persijn was lord of Amsterdam from 1280 to 1282. The crosses are thought to come from their arms.
The neighbours support the idea. Ouder-Amstel and Amstelveen, older settlements nearby that the same family held, have shields in the same red, black and white, with five crosses and four.
What they do not mean
Guides have long said the crosses stand for the three dangers the city feared: fire, flood and the plague. It is a good story and there is nothing behind it. Noble families in the area were using the crosses before the Black Death ever reached Europe.
They also have nothing to do with the red-light district, however well XXX suits a souvenir shop.
The crown and the motto
Above the shield is an emperor’s crown. In the 1480s the city lent large sums to Maximilian of Austria, and he rewarded it with the right to put his crown on its arms. Amsterdam was proud enough of the honour to put that crown on top of its tallest church tower, the Westertoren, where it still is.
The three words under the shield are much newer. In 1947 Queen Wilhelmina gave the city the motto “Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, Barmhartig”: valiant, steadfast, compassionate. It honours what the people of Amsterdam did during the German occupation.
Where to see them
Once you know them you will see them everywhere, and most of all at your feet. The waist-high posts that keep cars off the pavements are called Amsterdammertjes, and each has the three crosses on it. They have been made to a standard pattern since 1915, first in cast iron and now in steel.
Where to see it
- Westerkerk The Westerkerk is a Protestant church on the Prinsengracht, built from 1620 to 1631 to a design by Hendrick de Keyser.
- De Dokwerker De Dokwerker is a bronze statue by Mari Andriessen, unveiled in 1952, that commemorates the February Strike of 1941, when workers in Amsterdam went on strike against the persecution of the city’s Jews.
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