Arcos de Valdevez Municipality (Portugal)

Last modified: 2005-08-26 by antonio martins
Keywords: arcos de valdevez | coat of arms | vez | corn | quina: 11 bezants | grapes (golden) | vez river | waves: 3 |
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• Version without the coat of arms
• Presentation of Arcos de Valdevez

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About the flag

The flag is, according to my sources, yellow (there is always some uncertainty when the sources show a plain background: it may be wrong) with the arms at the centre. These are typical, with a 4-towered mural crown, a scroll reading "VILA DE ARCOS-DE-VALDEVEZ", and a shield, red with a white-blue-white wavy diagonal band. In the right chef there is a golden bunch of grapes (nothing too unusual) and in the left "counterchef" some plant that looks vaguely like corn. In the centre, an old portuguese escutcheon with 11 bezants.
Jorge Candeias, 30 Sep 1998

My guesses on the meaning of theses arms are that the wavy stuff refers to either river Vez that passes by the head of the municipality ("Valdevez", from "Vale de Vez", means "Valley of Vez", so the place’s name can be translated as "Arches of Valley of Vez") or to river Lima that makes the southern border of the municipality (or to both). The plant stuff relates probably to the main products there (this area is famous for it’s wine — Vinho Verde). The escutcheon is probab