Arruda dos Vinhos Municipality (Portugal)

Last modified: 2006-02-05 by antonio martins
Keywords: arruda dos vinhos | coat of arms | tower (red) | grapes (white) | grapes (purple) | grapes (red) | escutcheon: portugal ancien | rue | variation |
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• About the flag
• Variation with purple grapes
• Variation with red grapes
• Presentation of Arruda dos Vinhos

• Municipalities of Portugal
• Portugal

• Page about the municipal flag and coat of arms of Arruda dos Vinhos at Sérgio Horta’s website (in Portuguese).
  reported by Jorge Candeias, 29 Feb 1999
• Page about Arruda dos Vinhos at the Portuguese Municipalities’s Association website (incl. iimage of the arms)
  reported by António Martins, 18 Nov 2001

About the flag

The flag is as typical as you can get: Quarterly red over white, with coat of arms composed of shield, 4-towered mural crown and scroll reading "ARRUDA DOS VINHOS". The shield is silver and features a red tower with a black door charged with an escutcheon with the quinas. The tower is implanted on a green surface and is sided by two tall vines. Above the tower there are also two bunches of grapes.
Jorge Candeias, 09 Sep 1998

We know for sure that the grapes are white (or rather argent), which is quite unusual, even if not unique (see Vinhais). The grapes in purple and in red — both quite often variations (or mistaken renderings) of this coat of arms.
Antonio Martins, 13 Jun 2000

Guessing the meaning of these arms, I’d say that the grapes represent both the traditional products of the region and the name of the town ("dos Vinhos" means "of the wines"), the tower has the same meaning of all other fortifications in portuguese municipal heraldry, and I believe the escutcheon with the quinas may mean that this land once was property of the Crown.
Jorge Candeias, 09 Sep 1998

Variation with purple grapes

The grapes in purple and in red — both quite often variations (or mistaken renderings) of this coat of arms.
Antonio Martins, 13 Jun 2000

Variation with red grapes

The grapes in purple and in red — both quite often variations (or mistaken renderings) of this coat of arms.
Antonio Martins, 13 Jun 2000

Presentation of Arruda dos Vinhos

Arruda dos Vinhos is a town located to the north of Lisbon, in it’s rural “backyard”. The municipality belongs to the district of Lisbon, and old province of Estremadura and (if the administrative division that is currently being discussed here wins) will belong to the region of Ribatejo e Oeste. The municipality has an area of only 78 km² and a population of less than 9500 inhabitants in 4 communes. It is a rural municipality, working as a supplier of food to the metropolis to it’s south.
Jorge Candeias, 09 Sep 1998

The name means "rue of the wines" — rue being some kind of traditional herbal spice.
Antonio Martins, 21 Mar 1999, and Jorge Candeias, 24 Mar 1999