The next stop on my friend Katie's river cruise through Europe was in Salzburg, Austria.
Where she photographed the city's coat of arms. Well, the "new" one (shall we call it "Salzburg modern"?) that's been used since somewhere around 1600, though it was only officially granted on November 14, 1931.
An English blazon of this coat of arms would be: Gules a city wall with three church towers argent roofed or.
But she also photographed this coat of arms in the city:
Here, the identification of the arms becomes somewhat more of a trick.
They could be the earlier arms of the municipality of Salzburg ("Salzburg ancient" if you will), used through the late 16th century.
Or, they could be the arms of Salzburg District;
Or, they could be the arms of the Archbishopric of Salzburg.
Because all three of those entities use or used this coat of arms, which I would blazon as: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).
All in all, given the lion supporter, I tend to favor the idea that the depiction here is the arms of Salzburg District, but I could be entirely off-base here.
It does get a bit confusing, though, when you have three different entities using the same coat of arms!
Be that as it may, we are going to see this heraldry again, though in situations that make it clear that it is the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg which are being depicted.
