Metropolitan Life Assurance Company - Moorgate, London, UK
N 51° 30.921 W 000° 05.373
30U E 701934 N 5711152
This is a golden statue high above street level on a building now used by the Europe Arab Bank in Moorgate in the City of London.
Waymark Code: WMGF06
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 02/24/2013
Views: 2
If you are looking where you are going,
or looking for the streets of London being paved with gold, you will miss this
statue. It stands atop a steeple-like structure on the Europe Arab Bank building
in Moorgate.
The golden statue, that appears to be
about life-size, from street level, is looking south east towards the Bank of
England. The origin of the statue lies in the buildings original use as offices
for the Metropolitan Life Assurance Company. This was their
coat-of-arms.
The Book of Public Arms [visit
link] tells us:
"METROPOLITAN LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY
(London). (Established
1835.) Or, on a mount vert, a female figure proper,
vested argent, mantle azure,
the right arm extended and entwined by a
serpent, holding in the left hand a
human ..."
[Granted, College of Arms, August
18, 1885.]"
In English this is a robed female figure
with her right arm extended with a snake (serpent) around the forearm and her
left arm bent with a skull in the right hand.