A Merman for Weathervane Wednesday

 

Today's weathervane was photographed in the small town of Zierikzee, in the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland, Zeeland, The Netherlands.  This town received significant damage during the 1953 North Sea Flood.  There are many canals and ports in this area, which is very close to the Atlantic and North Sea.  This was a very interesting town to explore, with its medieval history and recent WWII and 20th century flood history.  

This two dimensional, gilded merman weathervane sits atop the cupola of the tower gate in Zuidhavenpoort.  This gate was built around 1450, and the dome tower was rebuilt in 1858.  This small town actually has three town gates over canals, part of the town's original fortifications.  The golden merman represents the Roman god Neptune, with a raised sword.   This weathervane probably dates from the 19th century renovations.  

This canal connects Zierikzee to Oosterschelde

 

For the truly curious:

Wikipedia article about Zierikzee:    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zierikzee  

Click here to read over 550 more Weathervane Wednesday posts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Merman for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 18, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/a-merman-for-weathervane-wednesday.html: accessed [access date]).