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Barcelos Municipality (Portugal)

Last modified: 2006-02-05 by antonio martins
Keywords: barcelos | coat of arms | escutcheon (saltire) | escutcheon: portugal ancien | waves: 5 | aqueduct | river cávado |
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Barcelos municipality
image by Jorge Candeias, 21 Jul 1999
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About the flag

The flag is typical: a gyronny of red over yellow, with coat of arms at the centre composed of a 5-towered mural crown, a scroll reading "CIDADE DE BARCELOS" and a shield with almost as many charges as the number of communes! The background is blue and then it has in chef three pointy escutcheons, the central one silver with a hollow red saltire, and the other ones silver with the portuguese quinas. In the point, 5 silver and blue wavy stripes and along the middle we can find a yellow tower with red door and windows, a strange ground-level building also yellow with red door and windows, a yellow wall and either a bridge or an aqueduct superimposed on the wall, plus a stylized tree and yet another yellow building with red door and window: this is probably a chapel, though the pinnacle is rather strange.
Jorge Candeias, 13 Oct 1998

The only charge that makes immediate sense are the wavy lines, that stand for the river Cávado that crosses the municipality from east to west and passes by the municipal head, and also perhaps the bridge or aqueduct, I don’t know.
Jorge Candeias, 13 Oct 1998


Version without the coat of arms

Barcelos plain flag
image by Jorge Candeias, 21 Jul 1999

Gyronny of red and yellow.
Jorge Candeias, 21 Jul 1999


Presentation of Barcelos

Barcelos is a city in Northern Portugal, in the district of Braga, old province of Minho, and possible future region of Entre Douro e Minho. The municipality is not very large, 378.7 sq.km, but relatively well populated, 116 200 inhabitants, and breaks all records concerning the number of communes: 89! The economy is based on industry, particularly clothes and shoes, and also agriculture. This place is also quite known abroad by it’s unique form of handicraft, the Barcelos cock (as in rooster… don’t confuse this with the handicraft from Caldas da Rainha…)
Jorge Candeias, 13 Oct 1998