Last modified: 2014-03-27 by ivan sache
Keywords: granada | andalusia |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
![[Province flag]](../images/e/es-an-gr.gif)
Flag of the Granada Province - Image by "HansenBCN" (Wikimedia Commons), 3 July 2009
See also:
The Granada Province (919,319 inhabitants in 2013; 12,531 sq. km) is located in the south-east of Andalusia.
Ivan Sache, 28 June 2009
The flag of the Granada Province (official presentation; photo, photo), approved on 26 February 2008 by the Provincial Council and submitted on 3 March 2008 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 March 2008 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 28 March 2008 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 61, p. 56 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, the length - from hoist to fly - one and a half the hoist, of the traditionally used green colour (Pantone 384c), charged in the middle with the private coat of arms of the Provincial Council of Granada, on both sides.
Commissioned in 2005 by the Provincial Council, experts in heraldry studied the flag to get the symbols adequatly "legalized, registered and protected". The main motivation of the study was to reassert the authority of the local administration. Green was chosen as the dominant colour and will be prescribed by Law to prevent inadequate use and plagiarism.
The spokesman of the Provincial Council, José María Aponte, explained that the new design was not a brand new flag but that "modifications, adaptations and corrections have been made to the coat of arms traditionally used for years to represent the institution". The main differences with the original flag adopted in 1969 are the crown, charges and author's licence. The crown was updated to reflect the Parliamentary Monarchy that created the Provincial Councils in the 19th century. The representation of the lions and castles was also updated.
During the investigations, emphasis was put on the green colour, based on "rigor and historical tradition". The green shade shall not be either copied or plagiarized, being "equal to a logotype or a trademark", added Aponte.
The updated flag is the successor of the previous provincial flags. In the 1950s, the process of designing provincial standards was initiated. In 1964, Manuel Parrizas designed a second sketch, which was used from 1969 to 2008, the model of the coat of arms having been approved by the Provincial Council in 2008. The 1969 update, however, was not approved by all the relevant bodies of the time. When the updating process was started in 2005, reports made by commissioned experts, Eduardo Molina Fajardo (Informe sobre el escudo de la Excelentísima Diputación Provincial, 1969) and David Torres Ibáñez (La heráldica de la Diputación Provincial de Granada. Estudio, antecedentes y propuestas, 2004) were found.
[Ideal, 28 August 2008]
Ivan Sache, 3 July 2009
The coat of arms of the Granada Province (image; official presentation), approved on 26 February 2008 by the Provincial Council and submitted on 3 March 2008 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 March 2008 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 27 March 2008 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 60, p. 55 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Argent fimbriated gules a pomegranate proper faceted gules slipped and leaved green, a bordure compony of eight pieces, in turn four pieces argent a lion rampant gules langued of the same crowned and armed or, four pieces gules a castle or with a tower gules port and windows azure and masoned sable. Fimbriation sable a two-stranded cord argent. The shield crowned by a Royal Crown.
The arms are canting, since granada means "a pomegranate" in Spanish, the pomegranate tree (Punica granatum L.) being called granado. The word comes from Latin granatus, "with grains", while the tree was called in classic Latin Malus punicum or Malus granatum, Malus being the apple-tree (hence the origin of "pomegranate" and of the German word Granatapfel). The origin of the name of the town of Granada is disputed, but might well have been derived from the name of the fruit.
The bordure of the shield recalls that Granada belonged to the Kingdom of Castile and León.
The modifications to the 1969 design are:
- Crown: The 1969 shield is crowned by the Crown of Isabel the Catholic, which should be replaced by the Royal Spanish crown, restoring the original design of the shield, dated 1878. David Torres Ibáñez supported this change, arguing that since the Monarchy created all the Provincial Councils by a single Decree, all those entities should have the same crown on their coat of arms, representing the institution that created them.
- Charges: The 1969 shield was described with "a border of castles and lions, made of quarters separated by right lines", but there is no heraldic description of the towers; accordingly, the author of the shield distorted the towers to fit them into the quarters, which vary in size [the towers in the upper and lower quarters are nearly twice wider than those in the lateral quarters]. This should be corrected and the castles should be identical to those shown on the Spanish constitutional coat of arms.
- Author's licence: The lions placed in the quarters at the base of the shield should be redesigned to better fit the quarter's shape.
The early history of the coat of arms is the following:
- 1836: a Provincial coat of arms was shown for the first time on official documents, as an oval shield, a field argent with two hands shaking each other and supporting a pomegranate proper faceted slipped and leaved of two leaves, surmounted by the Royal Spanish crown and surrounded by the writing "Diputación Provincial de Granada".
- 1873: following the proclamation of the First Spanish Republic (1873-1874), the Royal crown was replaced by a mural crown, a design that was still used after 1877.
- 1877-1891: the 1836 coat of arms might have been used, according to Torres Ibáñez.
- 1891: the coat of arms was chasuble-shaped with wrapped borders, the field gules with two hands shaking each other, per fess, proper, surmounted by a pomegranate proper faceted gules, supported, slipped and leaved. The shield surrounded by the writing "Diputación Provincial de Granada". This coat of arms was used on provincial documents until 1906.
-1906-1959: The coat of arms used in 1906-1931 and 1939-1959 had an oval shield with a field argent and a pomegranate proper, faceted, supported, slipped and leaved, surmounted by the Royal Spanish crown.
- 1914: Torres Ibáñez reports a "foreign model of short-lived use". The shield was "Per pale, 1. Azure a pomegranate proper faceted gules, supported, slipped and leaved vert, 2. Gules two hands shaking each other proper per fess. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown open".
- 1931-1939: The shield was oval with the field argent and a pomegranate proper, faceted, supported, slipped and leaved, and surmounted by a mural crown.
- February 1959: Manuel Parrizas Carrasco presented a proposal made of heraldic pieces: in the middle the traditional shield of Granada, surrounded by the municipal shields of Guadix, Baza, Huéscar, Albuñol, Iznalloz, Ugíjar, Loja, Montefrío, Santa Fe, Órgiva and Alhama. The shield surrounded by an orle of laurel branches and crowned by leaves and volutes argent.
- 31 July 1959: Seeking approval of the design by the Provincial Government, the administration submitted the proposal to the Academies of History and Arts.
- 9 November 1959: The Royal Academy of History rejected the proposal because of the "confuse piling of pieces and charges".
- 30 November 1959: The Government maintained the proposal and submits it to the Ministry of Government.
- 4 May 1961: The Directorate General suggested a revision of the proposal following the recommendations of the Royal Academy of History.
- 22 June 1964: Mr. Cachazo proposed a design made of eight open pomegranates placed on three ranks, but the design was not officialy approved. Manuel Parrizas submitted a new proposal with a single pomegranate and a border with castles and lions.
- 30 June 1964: Parrizas' proposal was adopted by the Provincial Government and submitted to the Royal Academy of History.
[Hacía una Cronología del escudo privativo de la Diputaci&ioacute;n Provincial de Granada ((PDF)
Ivan Sache, 21 October 2008
![[Province flag]](../images/e/es-an-g2.gif)
Former flag of the Granada Province - Image by Jens Pattke, after Banderas y Escudos de las provincias de España [e9s92], published by the Ministry of Public Administrations, 14 January 2002
According to Manual del Estado Español (text), the "historical flag" of the Granada Province was "zinc green with the provincial coat of arms in the center".
The coat of arms, adopted on 31 May 1969 by the Province Council, is "Argent a pomegranate proper faceted and seeded gules, a bordure of castles and lions, made of quarters separated by right lines, surmounted by the crown of Queen Isabel the Catholic and surmonting a scroll with the writing 'Excma. Diputación Provincial de Granada'".
Pascal Vagnat, 16 July 1999
