No, I'm not referring to the Red Light District but to the sign that is all over town with the 3 X...signs on homes, signs on poles...etc....When I was there about a month ago, I remember hearing or reading that it represented 3 different times of suffering in the Netherlands, I think....I've looked through all of the tour books I bought before I left and the books I bought there, but can't find it. I thought about doing an internet search, but frankly, putting in XXX in an internet search, I know will not get me what I want.

Any of you know what it stands for? It's driving me crazy that I can't find the answer.

It represents a sign of quality dating from the 1400's under Emperor Maximilian. Apparently he fell ill in Amsterdam, was grateful to the city, and allowed the traders to use the XXX from his coat of arms.

With a careful internet search, I simply didn't want a bunch of porno sites to pop up... I found the following information: The three Xs -St. Andrew's crosses- represent the three virtues of the city; Valor, Resolute and Merciful. A popular tradition also links the X's to the three threats to the city, Water, Fire and Pestilence.

Francophile -- maybe they took the coat of arms and added more meaning to it??

I know what you mean by choosing not to look on the internet. I got my explanation from TimeOut and God knows if that's for real. Anyway, someone else will certainly come by with the explanation.

the official website of the city says that they're St Andrew's crosses similar to the one that the apostel supposedly died a martyr's death on. They are part of the Amsterdam coat of arms.

There are other towns around Amsterdam that have the same crosses in their coat of arms but no one is sure where exactly they were taken from. Some historians say that the crosses were derived from the coat of arms from the Persijn family who used to own a lot of land in and around Amsterdam.

In 1489 Amsterdam was given the right to put the imperial crown from the holy roman empire on top of their coat of arms by Maximilian in return for the city's support to him.

In 1947 queen Wilhelmina gave the city the right to add the motto "heroic, resolute and merciful" to the coat of arms because of the peoples attitude during the occupation from 1940 to 1945.

I hope this will help keeping you out of the madhouse! Or maybe it's just adding to the confusion!

Both explanations are given here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam (despite some "rants" against wikipedia here lately)...

For what it's worth, a Yahoo search on...

Amsterdam three X

...took me right to this (and several other) web site(s), and there were no offensive "XXX" sites listed in the first ten sites retrieved.

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex,

Thanks for the hint on how to search for info on the XXX.

Vakantie,

No didn't add to my confusion... thank you

You're welcome.