The municipal flag adopted by the Alaraz town council (Salamanca) and approved by resolution of the Provincial Council of Salamanca at the ordinary meeting of its Government Commission held on 26 April 1996 answers the following description:
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
CivilFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.YesIt carries the coat of arms on the cloth.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field with a 1:1 ratio, square, contra-banded: the red field cut as a saltire by a silver band, with its own coat of arms in the centre and a closed royal crown as the timbre.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of Alaraz is a square field, contra-banded gules and argent, with its own coat of arms in the centre, topped with a closed royal crown. It is a square flag: the 1:1 ratio sets it apart from the rest of the municipal ones.
Alaraz is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, in Castile and León. The flag was adopted by the town council and approved by the Provincial Council of Salamanca, at an ordinary meeting of the Government Commission, on 26 April 1996. It was published in the Boletín Oficial de Castilla y León number 93, of 16 May 1996.
The official description is terse: ‘Square, contra-banded gules and argent, charged with its own heraldic shield, topped with the closed royal crown of the reigning Spanish Monarchy’.
It has never changed. It was approved in 1996 and there are no documented later modifications.
Square
the flag is square, with a 1:1 ratio.
Contra-banded
the gules —red— field is cut as a saltire by a silver —white— band, so that four areas of alternating colour are left.
Its own shield
in the centre.
Closed royal crown
the timbre of the coat of arms, that of the Spanish monarchy.
The 1:1 ratio is the Spanish municipal exception. Almost all town council flags are 2:3. Alaraz is square, and it is so because its official description begins with ‘Square’, without the decree giving any further explanation.
Instead of a plain field with the coat of arms on top, Alaraz cuts the cloth as a saltire with a white band. The coat of arms rests on that cross-shaped division, so field and figure mix. It is an old device, more heraldic than municipal.
The town council adopted it, but the flag was approved by the Government Commission of the Provincial Council of Salamanca. In that case it is the provincial council that has competence to validate the municipal arms of the province.
Test what you have read about the flag of Alaraz.
Text based on the article “Bandera de Alaraz” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Willy, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
