Last modified: 2005-08-26 by antonio martins
Keywords: ribeira grande | coat of arms | dove (yellow) | goshwak | star: 5 points (yellow) | bridge: 3 arches | waves: 3 | canting |
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![[Ribeira Grande municipality]](../images/p/pt-rgr.gif)
It is a quite typical portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms
centered on a background gyronny (meaning city
rank) of blue and white. The coat of arms is gules, a three arched
masonry bridge argent, lined sable and shadowed azure, by a river of three
wavy fesses, argent and azure, and under a five pointed star or, and a
dove (or a goshawk?) of the same, holding
an eschuteon charged with a saltire of five white
bezants. Mural crown argent with five visible towers
(city rank) and white scroll reading in black
upper case letters "RIBEIRA GRANDE".
António Martins, 21 Mar 1999
The name means "Large Creek" and that is certainly the one represented
in the azure-argent wavy fesses of the coat of arms (in portuguese heraldry,
the sea is rather vert and argent). The bridge is pretty obvious.
António Martins, 21 Mar 1999
The bird simply means that the municipality belongs to the Azores islands
— in the images of the arms I have, there's little to no difference between
this bird and most of the other hawks in the
azorean municipal arms.
Jorge Candeias, 24 Mar 1999
Ribeira Grande municipality had 27 620 inhabitants in 1990 (3rd largest
in Azores), and is divided in 14 communes, covering 180 km2. It's
situated in the island of São Miguel and belongs to the Autonomous Region of
Azores (old province of the same name) and to the old
District of Ponta Delgada.
António Martins, 21 Mar 1999
