Arcos de Valdevez Municipality (Portugal) (original) (raw)

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Concelho de Arcos de Valdevez, Distrito de Viana do Castelo

Last modified: 2014-08-23 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: [arcos de valdevez](keyworda.html#arcos de valdevez) | [coat of arms](keywordc.html#coat of arms) | vez | corn | [quina: 11 plates](keywordq.html#quina: 11 plates) | [grapes: 1 (golden)](keywordg.html#grapes: 1 %28golden%29) | [vez river](keywordv.html#vez river) | [waves: 3](keywordw.html#waves: 3) |
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image by Jorge Candeias, 23 July 1999

• About the flag
• Version without the coat of arms
• Presentation of Arcos de Valdevez See also:
• Arcos de Valdevez Communes
• Portugal External links:
• Page about Arcos de Valdevez at the Portuguese Municipalities’s Association website (incl. image of the arms)
  reported by António Martins, 18 Nov 2001

About the flag

The flag is, according to my sources, yellow (there is always some uncertainty when the sources show a plain background: it may be wrong) with the arms at the centre.
Jorge Candeias, 30 Sep 1998

Coat of arms

[.gif)](../images/p/pt-avv%29.gif)image by Sérgio Horta, 30 Sep 1998 The arms are typical, with a 4-towered mural crown, a scroll reading "VILA DE ARCOS-DE-VALDEVEZ", and a shield, red with a white-blue-white wavy diagonal band. In the right chef there is a golden bunch of grapes (nothing too unusual) and in the left "counterchef" some plant that looks vaguely like corn. In the centre, an old portuguese escutcheon with 11 bezants.
Jorge Candeias, 30 Sep 1998

My guesses on the meaning of theses arms are that the wavy stuff refers to either river Vez that passes by the head of the municipality ("Valdevez", from "Vale de Vez", means "Valley of Vez", so the place’s name can be translated as "Arches of Valley of Vez") or to river Lima that makes the southern border of the municipality (or to both). The plant stuff relates probably to the main products there (this area is famous for it’s wine — Vinho Verde). The escutcheon is probably a sign of the medieval owners of that land, the crown.
Jorge Candeias, 30 Sep 1998

Version without the coat of arms

Plain (monocolored) portuguese subnational flags are not allowed to have armless variations: plain flags always carry the coat of arms.
Jorge Candeias, 18 Jul 1999

Presentation of Arcos de Valdevez

Arcos de Valdevez is a town located in the North of Portugal. It belongs to the district of Viana do Castelo, old province of Minho and possibly future region of Entre Douro e Minho. The municipality has an area of 445.9 km² and a population of nearly 26 000 inhabitants distributed in 51 (!) communes. It’s a rural municipality and a beautiful one. A good portion of it’s territory is integrated in the only portuguese national park, also the oldest protected area in Portugal, the National Park of Peneda-Gerês
Jorge Candeias, 30 Sep 1998

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