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Information needed on 7th Armoured Division Presentation from Ghent, Belgium
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Can anyone supply any additional information on this lovely marble and bronze presentation from the Town of Ghent to the Officers and Men of the 7th Armoured Division.
The date on the brass plate indicates September 1944 but what was the actual date of presentation and to whom? Do any pictures exist of the presentation? It stands some 300mm tall and is very heavy.
Regards,
Simon
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Nice piece.
All I know is the Dragon of the Belfry is the wind vain on the top of it in Ghent.
A common 'official' gift of the Town.
From a Ghent website
Did you know the Gulden Draak (Golden Dragon) owes its name to the gilded statue on top of the Belfry in Ghent?
The legend says the gilded dragon first featured on the prow of the ship with which the Norwegian king Sigrid Magnusson left on a crusade in 1111. He offered the statue to the emperor of Constantinople (the current Istanbul) to put it on the cupola of the Aya Sophia. Some hundred years later, the Flemish count Baldwin IX had the showpiece transported to our regions. Here, the Norwegian dragon ended up in the hands of Bruges. After the battle on the field of Beverhout in 1382, the inhabitants of Ghent took the dragon as war booty and put it on top of their Belfry. In the Belfry all communal charters were kept. The dragon had to protect these documents and it was also the symbol of the freedom and might of the city.
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