Unicorn - New York City, NY
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 40° 45.492 W 073° 58.644
18T E 586316 N 4512418
This unicorn is featured on the Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom.
Waymark Code: WMCG1V
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 09/03/2011
Views: 16
Located on the British Empire Building at 620 Fifth Avenue in New York City's Rockefeller Center, this unicorn represents Scotland on the Crest of the United Kingdom.
This website (
visit link) explains the heraldry thusly:
"The current Royal Arms are a combination of the arms of the Kingdoms that make up the United Kingdom, and can be traced back to the first arms of the Kings of England and Scotland. The shield is quartered: The first and fourth symbolizing England, colored red (gules), contain the three lions passant guardant of England (passant meaning walking, and gardant meaning looking out of the shield); the second, symbolizing Scotland, and also red, is a rampant lion (rampant meaning standing erect with one paw on the ground and the other three raised) and double tressure felury-counter-fleury; the third symbolizing Ireland, colored azure, contains a harp of Tara.
The crest is a lion statant guardant wearing the imperial crown, itself on another representation of that crown. The dexter supporter is a likewise crowned lion, symbolizing England; the sinister, a unicorn, symbolising Scotland. According to legend a free unicorn was considered a very dangerous beast; therefore the British heraldic unicorn is chained. They stand on a grassy hill among three other symbols of the British islands--the gilded Tudor rose of England, the thistle of Scotland, and the shamrock of Ireland. A banner below the shield carries the gilded motto of British royalty: Dieu et mon droit, which is French for "God and my [birth]right." Inscribed on a belt surrounding the shield is the motto of the Order of Garter: Honi soit qui mal y pense, Latin for "Evil for him who thinks evil"."
The Coat of Arms is part of a 1933 sculptured doorway called "Industries of the British Empire" by artist Carl Paul Jennewein. See the waymark for this site at (
visit link)
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us about unicorns thusly:
"A unicorn (from Latin unus 'one' and cornu 'horn') is a mythological creature. Though the modern popular image of the unicorn is sometimes that of a horse differing only in the horn on its forehead, the traditional unicorn also has a billy-goat beard, a lion's tail, and cloven hooves—these distinguish it from a horse. Marianna Mayer has observed (The Unicorn and the Lake), "The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears. In even the earliest references he is fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary, but always mysteriously beautiful. He could be captured only by unfair means, and his single horn was said to neutralize poison."