Basel hosts a lot of Basilisks. What’s a Basilisk you say? The mythical king of the serpents – of course! A Basilisk (or cockatrice) is actually a small dragon with a head like a cock, a tail like a snake and wings like a bat. It is a creature that is born from a spherical, yolkless egg, laid during the days of Sirius (the Dog Star) by a seven-year-old rooster and hatched by a toad. They are displayed all over Basel in fountains, hotel lobbies, statues, etc. They often hold the Basel Stadt shield with a staff. If you see a symbol on a flag it is a black bishop's crozier (a staff with a crook at the end, carried by or before an abbot, bishop, or archbishop as a symbol of office) displayed on a white field with the crook turned toward the left. The symbol has been used in Basel since 1072!
1 comment:
fascinating.
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