University of Wales seal. Appendix I of The University of Wales and Its Constituent Colleges explains:
THE Seal of the University was designed by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones. On the obverse of the Seal the field is occupied by a seated figure under an arcade holding an open book, and representing the teaching side of the University — that is to say, Wisdom or Knowledge as the instructor. On the right and left are two standing figures also holding books, representing the students or graduates of the University, together with the three shields of the three constituent colleges, with their devices of the Rose, the Castle, and the Mace. The legend is from the Vulgate Latin version of Isa. Iviii. 10 and 12, of which the following is the English authorized version: "Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places"; the allusion being to the revival of learning in Wales, which received its crown in the creation of the University. The Welsh motto, "Goreu Awen Gwirionedd," is the motto of the University, and may be translated, "The best Inspiration is Truth."
On the reverse side is a building symbolizing the University, with cloisters below and class-rooms above, and placed between the mountains and the sea. The legend here is a verse from ' Lucretius, Book II, line 8: "Edita doctrina sapientum templa" (“The sanctuaries of the wise raised high by learning”).
Links to Related Material
Bibliography
Davies, William Cadwaladr, William Lewis Jones, and Sir John Edward Lloyd. The University of Wales and Its Constituent Colleges. London: F.E. Robinson, 1905. Internet Archive, contributed by the University of California Libraries. Web. 21 September 2025.
"University Seal." Prifysgol Cymru/University of Wales. Web. 21 September 2025. https://www.wales.ac.uk/about-us/robes-and-regalia/university-seal
Created 21 September 2025