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Arouca Municipality (Portugal)

Last modified: 2005-08-26 by antonio martins
Keywords: arouca | coat of arms: chief | saint mary | waves: 2 | fleur-de-lis (golden) | wreath | cross: triple | fleurs-de-lis: 3 |
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[Arouca municipality]
image by Jorge Candeias, 19 Jul 1999
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About the flag

The flag has a yellow field, of dark yellow in my sources, with coat of arms in the centre. The coat of arms is typical: 4-towered mural crown, scroll reading "AROUCA" and a shield divided in two parts: in chief a silver field with a red horizontal triple cross with golden fleurs-de-lis in the intersections of the arms, and below a light blue field charged with two golden branches united by a golden scroll, two silver wavy stripes and the figure of a saint (perhaps Saint Mary).
Jorge Candeias, 31 Aug 1998

I can't even guess the meaning of this coat of arms. I suppose the saint is Saint Mary, in which case that's the patron of the town. the wavy stripes may refer to the river Paiva or, more likely, to river Arda, since both rivers cross the municipal territory, but Arouca is next to the Arda and fairly close to it's springs. On the stuff in chief I have no speculation available, though it looks quite similar to a templar flag I saw some months ago, except for the lilies.
Jorge Candeias, 31 Aug 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 Arouca

Arouca is a town that belongs to the district of Aveiro, old province and (if the regions are approved) of new region Douro Litoral. The municipality has 328 sq. km of area and nearly 24 000 inh. in 20 communes. It's not very far from Oporto, but I think that it's economy is mostly rural, because it's economical indicators are very low (37,5 to a national average of 100).
Jorge Candeias, 31 Aug 1998