Last modified: 2006-02-05 by antonio martins
Keywords: alcobaça | coat of arms (chief: blue) | tower (golden) | fleurs-de-lis: 3 | fleur-de-lis (golden) | crescent: points up (golden) | wave |
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The flag is a gyronny flag of yellow over dark blue with the
coat of arms in the centre. The coat of arms consists of a shield,
above wich there is a 5-towered mural crown, and surrounded in the
lower part by the neckless of the Order
of Tower and Sword (a portuguese decoration that may be
attributed to our municipalities), and a scroll.
André Serranho was able to find in one source we both have a
tiny coat of arms with scroll, where it is visible that the scroll
now bears one single word, "ALCOBAÇA", though
it’s shape is identical as before. This means
that the word is squeezed into the area where used to be the word
"DE".
The shield is horizontally divided in three fields: the upper field
contains three fleur-de-lises, the central field conteins a tower
and two crescents facing upwards, all in gold, and the lower field
contains two blue wavy lines on a silver field.
Jorge Candeias, 05 Apr 1998, 16 Apr 1998 and 29 May 1998,
and António Martins, 08 Apr 1998
Guessing the meaning of the charges (because the charges in
portuguese municipal coats of arms are not explained anywhere),
I’d say that the fleur-de-lyses come from the time of the
peninsular wars, the crescents come from battles against the
moors in the old days of portuguese expansion to the south,
the tower comes from battles against the spaniards, since there
was a big victory of the portuguese army in the territory of the
municipality in a place called Aljubarrota, and the wavy lines
symbolize two small rivers, Alcoa and Baça, on whose intersection
Alcobaça is placed. That is even the origin of it’s name!
Jorge Candeias, 05 Apr 1998 and 16 Apr 1998
Alcobaça is a city that is placed in the center of Portugal, not
far from the shore. It belongs to the district of
Leiria, and is located to the southwest of the district’s capital.
If the regions go forward, it will belong to the
region Ribatejo e Oeste. The municipality has
417 km2 of area, 19 communes and about 55 000 inhabitants.
Jorge Candeias, 05 Apr 1998 and 16 Apr 1998
The name comes from "Alcoa" + "Baça", two rivers that
join in that place. That’s why there’s two wavy fesses azure in the
coat of arms.
António Martins, 13 Jul 1999
The flag of Alcobaça was an extraordinary one. While Alcobaça was still
a town the flag was unusual in being a gyronny, because by the regulations
of portuguese municipal flags, gyronny flags are attributed to municipalities
headed by cities. The shield was crowned by
a 4-towered mural crown, as it should be given the
town status of the place. The scroll contained
the words "VILA DE ALCOBAÇA".
Jorge Candeias, 05 Apr 1998
