The four red bars with a crowned blue stripe by the mast: the Valencian senyera was born as the flag of the city of Valencia.
Every fact about the flag, each with what it means.
Normal flagFIAV symbol: the form of the flag.
Civil and stateFIAV symbol: who may fly the flag.The flag in the words of vexillology and heraldry.
It is a rectangular field —the field is the cloth of the flag —with a 2:3 ratio, with four horizontal red bars on a yellow ground and, by the flagpole, a blue stripe bearing a golden crown.
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 pre-autonomous government used in 1979 the senyera without a crown and with an emblem…
The Valencian parties agreed on another version in 1981
As the flag of the community, it has not changed since the Statute of 1982
A law of 1984 detailed how it is used but did not fix its proportions
How it was born, how it has changed and what it means.
The flag of the Valencian Community has four red bars on a yellow ground and, by the mast, a blue stripe with a golden crown laid on its side. It is called the senyera coronada or Real Senyera. It is a rare case: before being the flag of the whole community, it was that of the city of Valencia.
The red and yellow bars were the emblem of the kings of the Crown of Aragon, to which the Kingdom of Valencia belonged. In the fourteenth century, King Peter IV allowed the city of Valencia to place the royal crown over its arms, as a reward for having resisted the Castilian attack in the War of the Two Peters. From the fifteenth century, sea charts already draw a barred flag with a crown over Valencia.
With the arrival of democracy there was a fierce debate about which flag should represent the community. The pre-autonomous government used in 1979 the senyera without a crown and with an emblem in the centre. The Valencian parties agreed on another version in 1981, but the Congress changed the draft Statute in 1982 and chose the crowned senyera, that of the city of Valencia. That period of clashes over the symbols is known as the “Battle of Valencia”.
As the flag of the community, it has not changed since the Statute of 1982. A law of 1984 detailed how it is used but did not fix its proportions.
Each part recalls the history of the city and of the old kingdom:
Red and yellow bars
the emblem of the kings of the Crown of Aragon.
Crown
the royal privilege the city of Valencia received in the fourteenth century.
Blue stripe
the ground on which the crown goes. Its origin is disputed: some believe it is very ancient, others that it was added in the nineteenth century.
The Real Senyera has rank of royalty and does not bow to anything or anyone. That is why every 9 October it comes down from the balcony of the Valencia City Hall completely vertical.
The city of Valencia and the Valencian Community use exactly the same flag.
The law does not say what ratio it should have. It is made with the 2 by 3 ratio of the Spanish flag, but much longer versions have been seen at some official events.
Test what you have read about the flag of Valencian Community.
Text based on the article “Bandera de la Comunidad Valenciana” from the Spanish Wikipedia, published under the licence CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources consulted:
Flag image: Mutxamel, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain.
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
Europa
Other flag
América del Sur
