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Madrid Community (Autonomous Community, Spain)

Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (CAM)

Flag of the Madrid Community - Image by Santiago Dotor, 20 November 1998

Symbols of the Madrid Community
Flag specifications
Flag proposals
Madrid Province
Municipalities

See also:

Spain

Symbols of the Madrid Community

The symbols of the Madrid Community (photo), designed by Santiago Amón (memoir), are prescribed in the Law On the Flag, Coat of Arms and Anthem, adopted on 23 December 1983 and promulgated on 19 January 1984 by a Decree of the Government of the Madrid Community published on 19 May 1984 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 120.

Flag
The flag of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (CAM) is crimson red, with seven five-pointed silver stars, placed four and three in the centre of the field. The red colour stands for Castile and the seven stars stand for the Ursa Major or Plough constellation.

Coat of arms
The coat of arms of Autonomous Community of Madrid (CAM) is "Gules, two castles in fess embattled with turrets and keep or, gate and windows azure, masoned sable, in the chief seven stars placed four and three argent; crest: a Royal crown [follows a long, precise blazon of the Spanish Royal crown].
Red is the colour of the Castilian arms. The seven stars come from the coat of arms of the town of Madrid, but instead of six they have only five points, to represent the five provinces bordering the CAM. The two castles represent the two Castiles (Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha) with which the CAM has traditional links. Tradition gives two origins for the seven stars:
(a) they stand close to the bear in the Madrid coat of arms to represent the seven stars of the Plough constellation which stand close to the Ursa Maior (great bear) constellation.
(b) Madrid was the first town in the Muslim Kingdom of Toledo conquered by Alfonso VI and as seat of the alcazar (castle) and of royalty was to be the seat of government, whereas the seven stars in the Plough represent North and hence the government of the heavenly bodies.

The description of the flag was slightly changed in the amended Autonomy Statutes of the Madrid Community (text), adopted by Constitutional Law No. 8 of 7 July 1998, published on 8 July 1998 in the Spanish official gazette.

Article 4.1. The flag of the Community of Madrid is crimson red, with seven five-pointed white stars, placed four and three in the centre of the field.

Santiago Dotor, Pascal Vagnat, António Martins & Antonio Gutiérrez, 8 October 2007

Flag specifications

Construction sheet for the flag of the Madrid Community - Image by Santiago Dotor, 20 November 1998

The aforementioned Decree includes a picture of the flag with specifications (no figures are given, however). The picture shows a flag made of 14 x 22 square units; therefore the proportions of the flag are 7:11. Each star is inscribed in an imaginary circle of 3.5 units in diameter. The top ray of the stars of the upper row is at 4 units from the flag's top, and at 5, 9, 13, and 17 units form the flag's hoist, respectively. The top ray of the stars of the bottom row is at 10 units from the flag's top, and at 6, 10, and 14 units form the flag's hoist, respectively.
The colours of the flag are given as:
CIELAB system:
Gules: 35.0 / 70.0 / 37.0
Silver: 255.0 / 3.0 / 78.0.
CIE 1931 system:
Flag red: 9.5 / 0.164 / 0.320
Flag silver: 53.2 / 0.303 / 0.311.

Pascal Vagnat, 20 November 1998

Flag proposals

The memoir El escudo y la bandera. Memoria y diseño de los símbolos de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (online copy) contains the initial designs and proposals made by Santiago Amón:
- a red flag with, at fly, two yellow castles and crown, surrounded by seven white five-pointed stars;
- a red flag with, at fly, seven white five-pointed stars (one in the middle of the other six);
- a red flag with, at fly, a large white five-pointed star.

Santiago Dotor, 26 February 2004

Madrid Province

Former flag and arms of the Madrid Province - Images by Eugene Ipavec, 23 December 2010

The Province of Madrid still exists. The former Diputación Provincial (Provincial Council), however, was suppressed in the Autonomous Communities that comprise only one province. Therefore, the only administrtive body is now the Autonomous Community of Madrid.

The Province of Madrid used a green flag with the provincial coat of arms in the middle, which ceased to exist when the Autonomous Community was established.

The coat of arm once used by the Provincial Council of the Madrid Province is presented in the newspaper ABC, 5 December 1983, quoting the book Crónica y guía de la provincia de Madrid (sin Madrid), publihsed in 1966 by Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles.
The first coat of arms, granted in 1872, consisted of a shield divided into eight quarters showing the arms of the eight partidos judiciales (Judicial Districts), superimposed with a central inescutcheon representing the town of Madrid:
1. Alcalá de Henares (a triple-towered castle over waves);
2. Navalcarnero (an aqueduct);
3. San Lorenzo de El Escorial (grill and palm branch);
4. Colmenar Viejo (arms of the Santillana family);
5. Chinchón;
6. San Martín de Valdeiglesias (St. Martin cutting and sharing his cloak);
7. Getafe (the world and the words "En España, Xetafe");
8. Torrelaguna (a castle over waves);
Inescutcheon: Madrid "modern" (with a dragon in the first quarter and a wreath in base).

The Madrid Province was subsequently reorganized into only five judicial districts, and a new coat of arms was introduced, with five quarters and a central inescutcheon standing for:
1. Alcalá de Henares (a triple-towered castle over waves);
2. Navalcarnero (an aqueduct);
3. San Lorenzo de El Escorial (per pale a grill and per fess Austria and France modern);
4. Colmenar Viejo (arms of the Santillana-Vega-Luna family);
5. Aranjuez (a palace over waves);
Inescutcheon: Madrid "ancient".

Santiago Dotor & Antonio Gutiérrez, 22 November 1999