
A mural crown ( la, corona muralis) is a
crown or headpiece representing
city walls,
towers, or
fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
es. In
classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...
, it was an emblem of
tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the
Romans a
military decoration
Military awards and decorations are distinctions given as a mark of honor for military heroism, meritorious or outstanding service or achievement. DoD Manual 1348.33, 2010, Vol. 3 A decoration is often a medal consisting of a ribbon and a med ...
. Later the mural crown developed into a symbol of European
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
, mostly for cities and towns, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was used in some republican heraldry.
Usage in ancient times
In
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium i ...
culture, a mural crown identified
tutelary deities such as the goddess
Tyche (the embodiment of the fortunes of a city, familiar to Romans as
Fortuna), and
Hestia
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia (; grc-gre, Ἑστία, meaning "hearth" or "fireside") is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In myth, she is the firstborn ...
(the embodiment of the protection of a city, familiar to Romans as
Vesta
Vesta may refer to:
Fiction and mythology
* Vesta (mythology), Roman goddess of the hearth and home
* Vesta (Marvel Comics), a Marvel Comics character
* Sailor Vesta, a character in ''Sailor Moon''
Brands and products
* Lada Vesta, a car from ...
). The high cylindrical ''
polos'' of
Rhea/
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible foreru ...
too could be rendered as a mural crown in Hellenistic times, specifically designating the
mother goddess
A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or the natural world, ...
as patron of a city.

The mural crown became an
ancient Roman military decoration. The ''corona muralis'' (Latin for "walled crown") was a golden crown, or a circle of gold intended to resemble a
battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at inter ...
, bestowed upon the soldier who first climbed the wall of a besieged city or fortress to successfully place the standard (flag) of the attacking army upon it.
The Roman mural crown was made of gold, and decorated with turrets, as is the heraldic version. As it was among the highest order of military decorations, it was not awarded to a claimant until after a strict investigation. The ''
rostrata'' mural crown, composed of the ''
rostra
The rostra ( it, Rostri, links=no) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the Roman Republic, republican and Roman Empire, imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium tow ...
'' indicative of captured ships, was assigned as naval prize to the first in a boarding party, similar to the
naval crown.
The Graeco-Roman goddess
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
* Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
's attributes on
Greek coinage
The history of ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the Archaic, the Classical, the Hellenistic and the Roman. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek ...
usually include her mural crown, signifying Rome's status as a loyal protector of
Hellenic city-state
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it als ...
s.
Heraldic use

The Roman military decoration was subsequently employed in European
heraldry
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...
, where the term denoted a
crown modeled after the walls of a castle, which may be tinctured ''
or'' (gold), ''
argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions t ...
'' (silver), ''
gules
In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple).
In engraving, it is sometimes depi ...
'' (red), or ''proper'' (i.e. stone-coloured). In 19th-century Germany, mural crowns (') came to be adopted for the arms of cities, with increasingly specific details: "Residential (i.e. having a
''royal'' residence) cities and capital towns usually bear a ' with five towers, large towns one with four towers, smaller towns one with three", observed
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (28 February 1871 – 19 May 1928) was a British expert on heraldry. His ''Complete Guide to Heraldry'', published in 1909, has become a standard work on heraldry in England. A barrister by profession, Fox-Davies wor ...
, in ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry'', adding "Strict regulations in the matter do not yet exist" and warning that the usage was not British.
[William Newton, ''Display of Heraldry'' (1846, p. 307) however, instances the crest of ]Viscount Beresford
A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status.
In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...
, and notes examples supporting the crest "to be seen over the arms of many of the British officers who distinguished themselves in the late war".
In recent times, mural crowns were used, rather than royal crowns, for
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
and modern Italian . A mural-crowned lady,
Italia Turrita, personifies Italy. In Italy, and some provinces and military corps have mural crowns on their coats of arms: gold with five towers for cities, and silver with nine-towered for others. The coat of arms of the
Second Spanish Republic
The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...
had a mural crown.
In the early 20th century
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
established strict rules for its municipal heraldry, in which each coat of arms contains a mural crown, with three silver towers signifying a village or an urban parish, four silver towers representing a town, five silver towers standing for a city and five gold towers for a capital city. The Portuguese rules are also applied to most municipal coats of arms of Brazil and some other members of the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries
The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international ...
.
Romanian municipal coats of arms contain a mural crown, with one or three towers for villages and communes, five and seven towers for towns and municipalities.
The eagle on the
coat of arms of Austria wears a mural crown to signify its status as a republic. This is in contrast to the royal crowns that adorned the
double-headed eagle (and the imperial crown positioned above it) in the
coat of arms of Austria-Hungary until their defeat in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. The mural-crowned eagle was abandoned under the
clerico-fascist Federal State of Austria
The Federal State of Austria ( de-AT, Bundesstaat Österreich; colloquially known as the , "Corporate State") was a continuation of the First Austrian Republic between 1934 and 1938 when it was a one-party state led by the clerical fascist F ...
from 1934, but was reinstated in
Allied-occupied Austria following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and remains in place to this day.
Examples from heraldry
File:Coat of arms of Austria.svg, The coat of arms of Austria
File:Coat of arms of Malta.svg, Coat of arms of Malta
File:Escut de la província de Lleida.svg, Coat of arms of the Province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
File:Crest of Lisboa.png, Coat of arms of Lisbon, capital of Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
File:Bissau.PNG, Coat of arms of Bissau, capital of Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...
File:Coat of arms of Berlin.svg, Coat of arms of Berlin, capital of Germany. Here, the wall of the mural crown is combined with the leaves of the people's crown, marking Berlin's status as both a city and a state.
File:BG Sofia coa.svg, Coat of arms of Sofia
The coat of arms of Sofia consists of a shield divided into four. The image of the Saint Sofia Church which gave the name to the city takes up the upper left quarter (as seen from behind the shield) and a humanized picture of the ancient town of ...
, capital of Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...
File:Wellington COA.gif, Coat of arms of Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...
, capital of New Zealand
File:CoA Città di Milano.svg, The coat of arms of the city of Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4  ...
, Italy
File:Brasao SaoPaulo SaoPaulo Brasil.svg, Coat of arms of the city of São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, capital of the State of São Paulo
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* '' State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* '' Our ...
, Brazil
File:Coat of arms of Trondheim.svg, The coat of arms of Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
, Norway
File:ROU AR Arad CoA.svg, The coat of arms of Arad, Romania
Arad (; German and Hungarian: ''Arad,'' ) is the capital city of Arad County, Transylvania. It is the third largest city in Western Romania, behind Timișoara and Oradea, and the 12th largest in Romania, with a population of 159,704.
A bus ...
(municipality, county capital)
File:Coat of Arms of Krasnoyarsk (Krasnoyarsk krai).svg, The coat of arms of Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yeni ...
is topped with a form of mural crown, which is the golden five-tower coronet of rank of a Russian federal subject administrative centre.
File:Coat of Arms of Kryvyi Rih.svg, Coat of Arms of Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine
File:Coat of Arms of Zrenjanin.png, Coat of arms of the City of Zrenjanin
Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia ...
, Serbia
File:Ninove wapen1.svg, Coat of arms of Ninove, Belgium
File:Coat of arms of Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.png, Coat of arms of Calderdale, England
File:Coat of arms of Vancouver.svg, Coat of arms of Vancouver
The coat of arms of Vancouver was granted by the College of Arms on 31 March 1969.
History
The city of Vancouver assumed its first municipal seal upon incorporation in 1886. Designed by City Alderman Lauchlan Hamilton, it was pictorial in natu ...
, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
See also
*
Camp crown
In Ancient Rome, a camp crown ( la, corona castrensis, "crown of the castrum"), also known as a vallary crown, was a military award given to the first man who penetrated into an enemy camp or field during combat. It took the form of a gold crown ...
*
Celestial crown
*
Chaplet (headgear)
*
Circlet
*
Corolla (headgear)
*
Naval crown
*
Grass crown
The Grass Crown ( la, corona graminea) or Blockade Crown (''corona obsidionalis'') was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer wh ...
*
Civic crown
*
Civic heraldry
Civic heraldry is heraldry used by municipality, municipalities.
Cities, towns, boroughs and other civic bodies often use heraldic arms as symbols for themselves and their authority. The traditions differ somewhat from one country to the other, ...
*
Crown
*
Diadem
A diadem is a type of Crown (headgear), crown, specifically an ornamental headband worn by monarchs and others as a badge of royalty.
Overview
The word derives from the Ancient Greek, Greek διάδημα ''diádēma'', "band" or "fillet", fr ...
*
Emblem of Italy
*
Fillet (clothing)
*
Laurel wreath
A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom ('' Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel ('' Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a ...
*
Liangbatou
*
Italia Turrita
*
Kokoshnik
*
National personification
A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda.
Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations ...
*
Polos
*
Olive wreath
The olive wreath, also known as ''kotinos'' ( el, κότινος), was the prize for the winner at the ancient Olympic Games. It was a branch of the wild olive tree ''Kallistefanos Elea'' (also referred to as ''Elaia Kallistephanos'') that grew ...
*
Tainia (costume)
*
The Stella d’Italia
The ''Stella d'Italia'' ("Star of Italy"), popularly known as ''Stellone d'Italia'' ("Great Star of Italy"), is a five-pointed white star, which has symbolized Italy for many centuries. It is the oldest national symbol of Italy, since it dates ...
*
Tiara
*
Vinok
*
Wreath (attire)
References
External links
*
{{Types of Crowns
Crowns in heraldry
Military awards and decorations of ancient Rome
Municipal coats of arms
National symbols of Italy
Iconography
Visual motifs