![[Vila do Porto municipality]](../images/p/pt-vpt.gif)
Last modified: 2014-11-15 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: vila do porto | st. mary | chief | goshawk | quina |
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2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 11 Oct 2007
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It is a fairly typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a field quartered of white and red.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 Oct 2007
![[Vila do Porto municipality CoA]](../images/p/pt-vpt).gif)
image by Sérgio Horta,
The arms are Argent, the Virgin Mary clad and complexioned Argent, coated Azure with edges Or, crowned Or, in chief Gules a goshawk Proper holding an inescutcheon Azure charged with five plates set in saltire. Mural crown Argent with four visible towers (town rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "VILA DO PORTO".
I think the chief prevents the coat of arms from being too empty graphically and being a tad blasfemous, too…
Meaning:
"Vila do porto" is Portuguese for "harbour town" or "port town", of which there’s no reflection on the arms; these instead are canting for the name of the island.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 / 12 Oct 2007
Flag and arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário do Governo : II Série on 15 May 1956, an unusually late date.
António Martins-Tuválkin,
![[Vila do Porto municipality plain]](../images/p/pt-vpt0.gif)
2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, Apr 2010
![[Vila do Porto municipality plain]](../images/p/pt-vpt8.gif)
2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 Oct 2007
Sérgio Horta mentions a previous design with a red and white gyronny flag (and differently worded blazon, though for identical arms) adopted and published in 1956.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 Oct 2007
The gyronny pattern means city status for the municipality seat, which is not the case of Vila do Porto; this previous legal prescription (and use?) was therefore a mistake. Along with the confusing situation of some Portuguese cities include in their names the word "vila" ("town"), and the name word "porto" being identical to the Oporto city name in Portuguese, vexillologist Adolf Duran in one of his articles about flags in Portugal [drn94] states incorrectly that Oporto is both a city and a town (perhaps influenced by the curious status of Madrid, which is officially a town (villa), in spite of being Spain’s largest settlement).
António Martins, 11 Oct 2007
Vila do Porto municipality had 5578 inhabitants in 2001 and consists of 5 communes covering 97,18 km², taking up the whole of St. Mary Island (Santa Maria). It is part of Azores Region (also a NUTS II and traditional province), former Ponta Delgada District.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 11 Oct 2007
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