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