Het Wapen van Marken

Het Wapen van Marken is the coat of arms of Marken, the village on the former Zuiderzee island in North Holland. It is not a building, and visitors will not find a door to open, but it is a small piece of the island's identity that appears on flags, signs and official documents, and it has recently been the subject of a notable public discussion. In 1991 Marken lost its status as a separate municipality and became part of the municipality of Waterland, but the island has kept its own council and strong sense of identity, and the arms continue to be used as the village emblem.

The shield is blue and carries a golden figure, the head of a Moor, known in Dutch as a moorkop. Heraldic Moors appear in the arms of many places in Europe, and their origins go back to the Middle Ages, when the image was linked with crusading, with the legend of saints and with the idea of exotic far-off lands. Why such a figure was chosen for Marken is not known with certainty, and local historians have offered several explanations without settling the question. The arms were confirmed in the early nineteenth century, when the Dutch state set about registering the arms of its municipalities, and they have been in use ever since.

In recent years, the image has become controversial. The version in modern use shows the head in a way that many people regard as a racial caricature, with a very dark skin tone and exaggerated features, and critics linked it with the history of slavery and the colonial era, at a time when the Netherlands as a whole was reflecting on its past. In response, the island's council decided to look for a more neutral design and chose to return to an earlier version of the emblem used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which is more restrained, and to introduce it on the flag. The debate over Marken's arms is one example of how communities across the country are reconsidering historic symbols.

For visitors, the village itself is the real attraction. Marken is known for its green wooden houses on piles, its narrow lanes, its harbour and its lighthouse, the Paard van Marken, and for the traditional costume that is still worn on special occasions. The museums, the shops and the cafes of the village are within easy walking distance of one another, and the causeway that links the island with the mainland, built in 1957, is a pleasant walk or ride. The emblem can be seen on the flag, on public buildings and in some of the museum displays.

The topic suits visitors interested in local history, heraldry and the way symbols change. A visit to the village takes half a day. Marken is reached by bus from Amsterdam via Monnickendam.