Gedenkpenning ter gelegenheid van de gastvrijheid van Utrecht voor Franse vluchtelingen 1846

This medal was created by Jan Dam Steuerwald to commemorate Utrecht's hospitality toward French refugees. See how the lion, a long-standing symbol of strength and sovereignty, stands guard over the city’s coat of arms? The lion, roaring its defiance, echoes through time, appearing in ancient heraldry and modern national emblems alike. The enduring power of this symbol lies not just in its representation of authority but also in its primal connection to our collective unconscious—a vestige of our ancestral reverence for the animal kingdom’s might. In heraldry, the lion is a symbol with a cyclical progression: adopted, adapted, and imbued with new significance across cultures and eras. This is a recurring motif in the human story, constantly reshaped by the tides of history and culture.