PCB Shop and Inn Signs

Postcard-book with 30 Cards to pick out.

Shop and Inn Signs
When strolling through medieval city centres the visitor again and again comes across artistically designed traditional shop and inn signs. The imaginative signs show  colourful symbols of ancient times where the name of the inn or the merchandise offered in the shop is represented graphically: post horns, stout monks, impressive bulls, storks carrying a cake instead of an infant, or cooks clad in white with their bonnets. At a time when there were no street signs or house numbers the splendid signs guided passers-by who were mostly illiterate.
Already in the ancient times inns were given names such as “Eagle” or “Sword” often represented on inn signs. In the Christian Middle Ages religious motives were used, i.e. “The Three Kings”, “Three Crowns” or “Moor Inn”, represented on the inn signs that were partly even prescribed by the City Council. Those signs which at the beginning only consisted of a painted wooden board on a stick demonstrated the right to receive and entertain strangers. At the beginning of the 17^th century then the signs changed into artistically curved, cast-iron cantilevers composed of an arm and a painted or even gilded sign.
In the age of neon lights the stylish signs fascinate us even more, as a tribute to the craftsmanship of times gone by.