Last modified: 2016-04-12 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: angra do heroismo | order of tower and sword | goshawk | inescutcheon | quina | quartered | arm(armed) | castle(red) | base(wavy) |
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![[Angra do Heroísmo municipality]](../images/p/pt-agh.gif)
2:3 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Oct 2015
It is a slightly typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms - having an unusual crown topping the shield - centred on a field gyronny of 8 of blue and white.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Oct 2015
French shield quartered, 1st and 4th quarter Gules an arm Proper in clad armour Argent holding a sinister bendy sword Argent, 2nd and 3rd quarter Argent a goshawk proper (i.e. brownish),on heart point an escutcheon Argent, charged with five inescutcheons Azure ordered per cross, each one charged with five plates in quincunx. The shield is surrounded by the collar of the Order of Tower and Sword. Mural crown Argent with five visible towers (city rank), blue ports and white scroll with inscription in black initials: ""MUITO NOBRE, LEAL E (dexter) "SEMPRE CONSTANTE CIDADE" (base) "DE ANGRA DO HEROÍSMO" (sinister), (i.e. the most noble, loyal and always enduring city of Angra do Heroísmo). The mural crown is topped by an arm like those in 1st and 4th quarter.
The new flag displays the former coat of arms, which is already displayed in Ignacio de Vilhena Barbosa: "As Cidades e Vilas da Monarchia Portugueza", vol.1, Lisboa 1860, p.37. The differences are as follows: The shield of 1860 was Portuguese, the crown was a royal coronet, the Order of Tower and Sword was fixed in base by a blue scarf.
The shield is transgressing against the law of 1991, because neither a French nor a quartered shield are allowed.
this webpage
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Oct 2015
![[Angra do Heroísmo municipality plain]](../images/p/pt-agh0.gif)
2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, Apr 2010
![[Angra do Heroísmo municipality (1940-2013)]](../images/p/pt-agh940.gif)
2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 12 July 1999
The flag is a red over yellow gyronny with coat of arms in the centre.
Jorge Candeias, 31 May 1998
A silver shield charged in chief with a yellow goshawk holding a quina in it’s claws, three wavy stripes of green-silver-green below and in the centre a red castle with white port and windows, the collar of the Order of Tower and Sword and a white scroll reading "CIDADE DE ANGRA DO HEROÍSMO" in black letters. The coat of arms has a 5-towered mural crown Argent.
Meaning:
The goshawk and quina stand for the Azores (these charges appear in nearly all the azorean municipal coats of arms), the green waves stand for the sea, since this town is a sea harbor (like all the other azorean heads of municipality), and the castle must represent the city’s fortifications and history, since this city was the beginning of the liberal revolution in the 19th century that after a civil war conquered the power from the supporters of Dom Miguel, an absolutist king, and that caused the adoption of the blue-white flag in Portugal.
Jorge Candeias, 31 May 1998
New flag and arms published in Diário Insular on 13 October 2013, former flag and arms published in the official journal Diário do Governo: I Série on 14 May 1940
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 30 Oct 2015
Angra do Heroísmo (that could be translated as "bay of heroes"), is an Azorean city, capital of the island Terceira. It used to be the head of the district of Angra do Heroísmo, before the Azores became an Autonomous Region and the Azorean districts where abolished. The municipality has 237.5 km² and over 35 500 inhabitants in 19 communes. It’s economy is varied, with tourism, services, agriculture and food industries as the main activities.
Jorge Candeias, 31 May 1998
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