Murten: Heraldry, Gates, Sgraffito

Walled City - Murten

Heraldry, Gates, Sgraffito

1.  City gates.  The entry ways show the depth of the walls. The walls are not always freestanding. Here, there are houses and businesses abutting, even part of it.  See the slant back at the facade of the building just through the gateway - its own kind of buttressing.  Many city walls have a second line of defense past the main gate, before entering the city: a second huge door, or iron portcullis to drop down the slots.  Some have a murder hole above, where defenders can rain down arrows, pitch, on those stuck in the midway before getting through to the town.

Note that an invader has successfully passed through and is waiting for lunch.

Murten, Switzerland, city gate with heraldry

This gate is sectioned into the big swinger, and then its own little door with its own little window - allows the watchmen to let one person in without the vulnerability of the entire gate opening; and the little window to check identities.  No body scanners yet.

2. Heraldry.  There is a heraldry motif on this gate to the city of Murten:  See  a red and white wavy line pattern, seen also on shutters, doors.

Look up heraldry to see meanings, if any. Or it is just personal taste spread about. The white (also silver, or "argent"), according to://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm/ means peace and sincerity; the red ("gules") means "Warrior, martyr; Military strength and magnanimity." A wavy line means water, sea.  Fine:  this city knew many sieges, and it is on Lake Murten, or Murtensee.  The site also notes, however, that there is no one interpretation of any of this. 

3.  View from inside the city.  Here is the other side of the gateway, looking back at the tower and its warning bell, and a cafe next door.

There is ornamentation known as "sgraffito" on the cafe built into the wall, visible from the inside. 

Murten, Switzerland, gateway from inside the city

4. Sgraffito.  Sgraffito is a multiple-step decorative process, where one color of pigment is covered with another; sometimes a layer of plaster will be covered with another layer, then the top one is scratched deep enough to reveal the contrast beneath. See entire pictures on buildings; or designs that can be made to look like stonework, ironwork. Do an images search for sgraffito technique.

5.  Clockworks

Clockworks display, Murten, Switzerland (at ramparts area)