Algarve (Portugal)

Last modified: 2005-08-26 by antonio martins
Keywords: algarve | head: moor | head: king |
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• Algarve heraldic motives
• Presentation of Algarve

• Municipalities of Algarve:
  • Albufeira
  • Alcoutim
  • Aljezur
  • Castro Marim
  • Faro
  • Lagoa (Algarve)
  • Lagos
  • Loulé
  • Monchique
  • Olhão
  • Portimão
  • São Brás de Alportel
  • Silves
  • Tavira
  • Vila do Bispo
  • Vila Real de Santo António
• Faro District (clickable map)
• Algarve Tourism Region
• Portuguese subnational flags
• Portugal

Algarve heraldic motives

The moorish and christian kings in the Algarve municipal arms (13 out of 16 municipalities) shows a little different in each different coat of arms — and often the same arms show appreciable differences in various depictions.

Algarvan heads and azorean goshawk are the only distinctive regional charges in our municipal heraldry (plus the star in the municipalities of the Estrela Range region, though in a much lesser degree), having all the other charges a more local / historical character. The reasons for this are different, I think. Although in the Algarve what happens is that it used to be a de jure separate kingdom under a personal union with Portugal until the 20’s of the last century, thus having it’s own set of symbols (although no flag, as far as I know), in my humble opinion the goshawk derives from the obvious graphical expression of the name of the islands, since I don’t think they ever had arms until they became autonomous in the ’70s.
Jorge Candeias, 31 Mar 1999

Historical arms

Background color variation

Yesterday on TV during the motorcyclist concentration in Faro a man was wearing a pin/patch on his jacket with a coat-of-arms of Algarve, but with blue on the christian quarters and white on the moor’s, instead of gold and red. The crown was also not right, it seemed more like a golden mural crown in the style of Lisbon.
João Madureira, 20 Jul 2003

That’s how it is used curently. That shield with blue and white quartering is almost the only one that appears in modern renditions of the thing in colour. Almost. There is also another rendition of the arms, part of the symbol of the Cycling Association of the Algarve, that shows the christ