Symbolik Meaning of Keys

Hey everyone, at the beginning I would like to welcome you all to my new contribution and hope you have a quiet and relaxing week! Today I would like to go a little deeper into the symbolism of an object that everyone knows and I am happy when you can learn new things.

The key is not only considered a tool with which it's possible to open doors, but is closely associated with a deep symbolism which can be interpreted differently in different cultures. It's often seen as an object of knowledge and only the one who owns the right key has access to hidden things and this mystical meaning is also connected with the history of cryptography in which the right key for decoding is essential. Already in ancient cultures, there were numerous legends in which the key was considered as an object to open the hidden ways and only with it was possible to open the entrance and as a metaphor, there are many interpretations and it's often spoken of a key to happiness or hearts, but this can also be related to many other things. In mythology, the guardian of the key is often described as the holder of the hidden and can also be considered as a sign of power and there are also gods who were also considered to be bearers of the keys such as Janus in Roman or Hecate in Greek mythology. There are some variations of keys behind which a deep symbolism is hidden, such as the Ankh symbol in ancient Egypt, which was also considered a key to eternal life and is deeply anchored in the culture there and was carried by some gods or pharaohs and how important this symbol is, the hieroglyphs also show. Not infrequently, the key was also considered as an object to be able to enter supernatural places such as the sky or other worlds and there are certainly thousands of fairy tales in which similar actions can be found and only through the key could new mystical places be explored.

Sometimes the key is also carried as jewellery with the belief that it could bring happiness or the chance to find hidden things is increased and as a symbol, it has also developed into an important symbol for success. A key is often more than a simple object to open doors and the blacksmiths were mainly responsible for the production, which created true works of art from metal and decorated the keys magnificently and sometimes noble metals were used here. The production methods has also changed over time and it was important to make sure during production to produce keys as safely as possible so that no unauthorised person could open the lock and the use of locks and keys was becoming more and more secure and the forges had an enormous demand and there was never a shortage of orders. It was a work that was associated with a high precision because nothing should be missed when it comes to the quality and at the beginning all keys were individually made until the advent of new technologies which created possibilities to produce keys even in large numbers and a huge business developed from it which created many jobs and the way from the mining of raw materials to production required thousands of people who thus earned their living. In the history of heraldry there are hundreds of coats of arms in which keys can be seen and many towns or families can be proud of having this object in their coat of arms.

Many thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about this exciting topic! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.