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Caria Commune (Portugal)

Freguesia de Caria, Concelho de Belmonte, Distrito de Castelo Branco

Last modified: 2015-07-26 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: caria | tower(silver) | star(5-point) |
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[Caria commune] 2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 24 Nov 2010
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About the Flag

It is a slightly untypical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a plain white field.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 Nov 2010

Coat of arms

[Caria commune CoA] image by Sérgio Horta, 24 Nov 2010

The arms are Vert a tower Argent, in central chief a 5-point star Argent. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and red scroll reading in black upper case letters "VILA DE CARIA".
Meaning:
Arms design proposed by Portuguese heraldrist Afonso Dornelas on 25 April 1923. The 1930ies rules for Portuguese civic heraldry (and vexillology) allowed communes to have arms if their seat was a town, which back then mostly meant a former municipal seat, demoted to commune seat in the 1836 administrative reform: Caria was a town and municipality seat from 1512 to 1836, then demoted on both accounts and had its town status was restored in 1924. The star stands for the nearby towering Star Range. The red scroll is atypical , but expected for a 1930ies white flag (cp. e.g. Monchique, or former Póvoa do Varzim) - this being one of the veryfew situations in Portuguese civic heraldry and vexillology where the flag affects the arms in any way.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 Nov 2010

Flag and arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário do Governo : I Série in on 15 February 1932
António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 Nov 2010


Presentation of Caria

Caria Commune is one of the four communes of the Belmonte Municipality (q.v.); it had 1921 inhabitants in 2011 and covers 46,15 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, July 2015


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