What’s This Image at The YMCA?
Update: A Hacker News reader knows what the symbol is. I’ve updated the end of this post.
The Question
I walk by the YMCA in Des Moines quite often, mostly walking back and forth from work to the bank or somewhere to grab a bite to eat downtown. I’ve never noticed the artwork, or whatever it is, on the South-facing size of the YMCA building before.
I’m not even sure what the art is depicting. There’s obviously a hand, but I’m unsure as to what the other two, or perhaps three, objects are. Anyone have any ideas?
The Old YMCA Logo
While researching the symbol, I did come across some similar imagery, that happens to be the old YMCA logo. The City of Waycross, Georgia operates out of the “old” YMCA building, which has undergone extensive renovations. This tile mosaic of the old YMCA logo sits at the entrance to City Hall.
The artwork in the photograph I took definitely isn’t the old YMCA logo. The City of Waycross also has a photo of an old door knob featuring the original YMCA logo.
There’s also an image from The Kansas City Lens displaying the same old YMCA logo as the ones from Waycross, GA. The logo in the image from The Kansas City Lens has a date of 1914 and is from the Paseo YMCA.
I was originally asking if anyone had any ideas on what it is, and got a very quick answer. The image below is a closer view of the symbol. I was also asking for ideas in the comments at Hacker News. Keep reading for the full answer.
And the answer is…
Thanks to HN reader MaysonL, it’s pretty safe to say it’s a variant of the “Chi Rho” symbol. Looks pretty much spot on to me. Thanks for such a quick answer MaysonL!
Better Photos
I’ll get some better photos in the next day or two and may add them to the Chi Rho symbol Wikipedia page. I’ll add them to a Google+ album and update this post with a link to it, at least.
