Archival Documentary Heritage

Continuing to highlight our archival documentary heritage, today we are sharing part of the process behind the modification of the Municipality of Almeida's coat of arms, seal, and flag, carried out between 1959 and 1960.

At the ordinary meeting of the Almeida Municipal Council held on 11 June 1959, the then Mayor, José Júlio Balcão, stated:

"As is generally known, the coat of arms, seal, and flag currently in use by this municipality are extremely old and do not correspond to popular heraldry, much less to the symbolism of the events that have ennobled the history of the municipality... It has become necessary to establish a truly representative heraldry that, as a whole, reflects the municipality's distinguished history, but above all that of this ancient fortified town..."

The request for the modification was submitted on 21 July 1959 to the Minister of the Interior and the Civil Governor of Guarda. In January 1960, the Civil Governor forwarded an official communication containing a proposed design for the coat of arms, seal, and flag, prepared by the Heraldry and Genealogy Commission of the Portuguese Archaeologists' Association.

The proposal was unanimously approved by the Municipal Council at its ordinary meeting of 6 February 1960, which also resolved to send the Commission the amount of 300 escudos to cover the cost of the corresponding drawings and engravings. The process was concluded under the presidency of José Casimiro Matias, and the new heraldic design was officially published in the Government Gazette (Diário do Governo), No. 185, Series II, of 8 August 1960. It remains in use to this day.

We are sharing some of the documents that form part of this process, including the "copy of part of the minutes of the ordinary meeting" of 11 June 1959, the historical and economic information prepared for the modification of the coat of arms, seal, and flag, a copy of the official letter sent to the Civil Governor of Guarda on 21 July 1959, the official letter received from the Civil Government of Guarda dated 13 January 1960, the "copy of part of the minutes of the ordinary meeting" of 6 February 1960, and the "copy of the order published in the Government Gazette (Diário do Governo), No. 185, Series II, of 9 August 1960," which states the following:

COAT OF ARMS – Or, a castle gules, masoned and illuminated of the first, with an open azure gateway, the door fitted with a silver knocker and silver roundels.

FLAG – Gules, bearing the municipal coat of arms surmounted by a silver mural crown of four towers, with a white scroll below inscribed ALMEIDA in black.

SEAL – Circular, displaying at its centre the elements of the coat of arms without indication of tinctures. Around the edge, within concentric circles, appears the inscription: "CÂMARA MUNICIPAL DE ALMEIDA" ("Municipal Council of Almeida").

In the copies of the meeting minutes, as well as in the documentation concerning the modification of the coat of arms, it is possible to identify the former coat of arms in the letterhead of the pages on which these documents were produced. The file also contains the proposal for the new municipal seal, the image of which we are also sharing.

For further information, please contact us by email at arquivo@cm-almeida.pt