Last modified: 2010-07-23 by antónio martins
Keywords: ourique | coat of arms: horse | crescent: points to hoist | crescent (silver) | sun: 16 rays | towers: 2 |
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It is fairily typical portuguese municipal flag,
with the coat of arms centered on a white and red quarterly
(town rank) background. Flag and arms adopted and
published in the official journal
Diário da República : I
Série in 1985.02.14, a remarkably late
date.
António Martins, 21 Jun 2007
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The arms are Gules on a ground Proper an equestrian knight clad and armed
Argent the horse Argent harnessed Gules and on dexter chief a sun Or under a
tower Argent and on sinister chief a crescent Argent pointing dexter under a
tower Argent. Mural crown argent with four visible towers
(town rank) and white scroll reading in black
upper case letters "Ourique".
António Martins, 21 Jun 2007
Ourique was once thought to be the actual loction of the famous eponymous
battle where Portuguese 1st King Afonso Henriques’ army faced Emir
Ali ibn Yusuf’s Moorish army in 1139. (More about this battle
here.) It is
interesting to note, however that the mythical and mystical connection linking
this battle with the origin of the primitive Portuguese
coat of arms is not reflected on this coat of arms. This is probably due to
the academic discredit felt by the 1930’ies heraldists who devised these
arms against the popular historiography and heraldry behind the said link — ~
even the location of the battle in this municipality was disputed.
António Martins, 21 Jun 2007
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
The previous flag, used unofficially for a very long time, was plain white
and the scroll read "Vila de Ourique". Since the main difference between this
unofficial flag and the official one adopted in 1985 is the background pattern,
and considering that three other portuguese municipal flags use
officially plain white backgrounds (Alfândega
da Fé, Machico, and
Torres Vedras), I cannot see the reson for taking so
long to officialize this flag.
António Martins, 21 Jun 2007
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
Ourique municipality had 6199 inhabitants in 2001 and consists of 6
communes covering 660,15 km². It is part of:
Beja District, traditional province and NUTS III
Baixo Alentejo, and 1999 ref. adm. region and C.C.R. /
NUTS II Alentejo.
António Martins, 21 Jun 2007
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.
