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]](../images/p/pt-arc.gif)
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
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
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
