page_title: University of Aberdeen
section_title: Symbols of the university
hierarchical_section_title: University of Aberdeen / Symbols of the university
caption_attribution_description: English: A mock-gothic arch at the University of Aberdeen designed by A Marshall Mackenzie
context_page_description: The University of Aberdeen is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is an ancient university founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, petitioned Pope Alexander VI on behalf of James IV, King of Scots to establish King's College, making it Scotland's third-oldest university and the fifth-oldest in the English-speaking world.
  The university comprises three colleges - King's College, Marischal College, and Christ's College - that are now mainly ceremonial. The university as it is currently constituted was formed in 1860 by a merger between King's College and Marischal College, a second university founded in 1593 as a Protestant alternative to the former. The university's iconic buildings act as symbols of wider Aberdeen, particularly Marischal College in the city centre and the crown steeple of King's College in Old Aberdeen. There are two campuses; the predominantly utilised King's College campus dominates the section of the city known as Old Aberdeen, which is approximately two miles north of the city centre.
context_section_description: The university's coat of arms is an integral part of the current logo, which along with the colours burgundy and white, is used extensively on campus signage, printed materials, and online.
caption: This archway, designed by AM Mackenzie, leading to the forecourt of the New King's Building at King's College portrays, from top to bottom, the coat of arms of Scotland, the coat of arms of Bishop Elphinstone, and the University's coat of arms. It is also engraved with the University's Latin motto, Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini.
exif: {}