The animal depicted on the Grote Gracht 21 is clearly borrowed from heraldry. It is a double-headed eagle standing with each paw on a mountain. It is thus a literal representation of the former house name "in den arenbergh", which, according to De Stuers, could be read on the facade of Grote Staat 27, where this Gable stone comes from.
Arenberg was also a family name and certainly not unknown in Maastricht. It belonged to a count's family that played a role in Maastricht history several times. The most notorious among them was Willem van der Marck, better known as 'the wild boar of the Ardennes', who was executed by the bishop of Liege on the Vrijthof square in 1485.
Despite the heraldic design the connection between Gable stone and this noble family is not demonstrable.
Another double-headed (Habsburg) eagle can be seen
on the Vrijthof Square near the Spanish Government buidling.
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