The flag of Bellvei (Tarragona) crosses white and red as a saltire with a golden tower: the tower of Tedbert, from the eleventh century, which gave rise to the village.
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 field —the cloth of the flag —with a 2:3 ratio divided into four triangles that cross diagonally: the top and bottom ones white, the side ones red, with a yellow tower in the centre.
Each element and how many of the 1,390 flags in the catalogue carry it. In yellow, the rarest.
Every date in its story, at a glance.
The Bellvei family, lords of that tower, left as their heraldry its quartered saltire in white…
The flag, published in the DOGC of 10 July 1991
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
White and red crossed as a saltire, with a golden tower picked out on top: the flag of Bellvei (Baix Penedès, Tarragona) sets over its surname the building that gave rise to everything.
The village grew around a tower: the tower of Tedbert, raised in the eleventh century, which gave rise to the hamlet. The Bellvei family, lords of that tower, left as their heraldry its quartered saltire in white and red, and the coat of arms approved on 27 August 1990 took it up: divided in a St Andrew’s cross, first and fourth of silver, second and third of gules, with a tower of gold over the whole. The flag, published in the DOGC of 10 July 1991, stretches the coat of arms to a 2:3 ratio and adds a practical detail: if the artistic design calls for it, the tower may be drawn with a different stroke, though the vexillological manual recommends that its stone follow the colour of the field.
With no earlier versions: coat of arms (1990) and flag (1991) form the first regulated heraldic set of Bellvei.
White and red saltire
the arms of the Bellvei family, lords of the place.
Yellow tower closed in red
the tower of Tedbert, from the eleventh century, embryo of the village.
Mural crown of a hamlet
the finishing touch of districts without the title of town.
The Bellvei rule allows the drawing of the tower to be “artistic”: few official Catalan flags leave a margin like that to the maker.
Everything in Bellvei hangs off the tower of Tedbert: the nucleus grew around it, the coat of arms puts it in the centre and the flag repeats the scheme; the hamlet is an appendage of its watchman.
Test what you have read about the flag of Bellvei.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Mutari and Albert Mestre 20 January 2007, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0.
