Luanshya

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LUANSHYA

Province : Copperbelt

Official blazon

Arms: Per chevron Or and Gules in chief a balance and in base a miner's pick head dowmwards counterchanged on a chief Azure two mural crowns Or.
Crest: On a wreath Or and Gules an eagle reguardant wings expanded Or gorged with a collar Sable charged with three pallets wavy Argent pondant therefrom an escutcheon Gules bearing the alchemical symbol for copper Gold grasping in the talons and beak a serpent Vert.
Supporters: On either side a roan antelope proper gorged with a collar Sable charged with three pallets wavy Argent pendent therefrom by a ring Or an escutcheon Gules bearing the alchemical symbol for copper Gold.
Motto: Aes erat in pretio

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on April 27, 1955.

The gold field with its red balance represents the public portion of the municipality with its commercial and financial interests. The red portion, its shape suggesting the roof of a house, and with a gold pick and represents the other part of the municipality, the mining township. The pick is placed head downward to suggest the miner's off-duty period in his place of residence.

The upper part of the shield is blue like the same part of the former Northern Rhodesian arms, and symbolises the location of the government offices in the municipality. The two mural crowns symbolise the two townships which form the interdependent halves of the municipality.

The eagle in the crest is taken from the arms of Zambia/Northern Rhodesia, but instead of grasping a fish it holds a green serpent in a death grip in its beak and talons. The crest refers firstly to a legend that the Luanshya River was the haunt of an evil spirit which in the shape of a serpent devoured all those who entered its domain. This spirit had to be exorcised by 'Chirupula' Stephenson, one of Northern Rhodesia's pioneers, before the area could be developed.

Secondly, the crest refers to the successful measures taken in the area to combat disease, the snake being symbolic of evil and misery to man. The black collar of the eagle is charged with silver wavy vertical bars and reproduced the design found in the national coat-of-arms, while the red shield is charged with a gold alchemical sign for copper as a reference to coppe rmining.

The supporters are roan antelopes and refer to the Roan Antelope Copper Mine to which the town owes its existence.