Alava Province (Basque Country, Spain)

Álava, Araba

Last modified: 2004-03-27 by
Keywords: spain | basque country | province | alava | araba | coat of arms |
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2:3
by Luis Miguel Arias

• Description
• Coat-of-Arms

See also:

• Provincial Flags (Spain)
• Basque Country (País Vasco / Euskadi, Spain)
• Spain

Other sites:

• Arms and Flags of the Brotherhood of Alava by Aingeru Astui
• Flags of Municipalities of Alava by Aingeru Astui

According to the Manual del Estado Español (Handbook of the Spanish State, Spanish text only) by Editorial Lama, both the flag and coat-of-arms were adopted on the 20th December 1984:

• flag: "La Bandera del Territorio Histórico de Alava es de color carmesí, figurando en el centro de la misma, y en ambas caras, el Escudo del Territorio Histórico" [Editor's note: crimson flag with the coat-of-arms on both sides];
• coat-of-arms:

  El Escudo del Territorio Histórico de Alava constará, sobre campo de oro, de una roca, en su color, sumada de un castillo almenado, mazonado de sable y aclarado de azur y de cuya roca sale un brazo armado con una espada de azur, siniestrado de un león rampante de gules; sobre la hoja de la espada una cinta de azur y en letras de oro la leyenda "Justicia". Bordura de azur y en letras de oro la leyenda "En aumento de la justicia contra malhechores", todo ello timbrado de la corona ducal.

Pascal Vagnat, 16 July 1999

The motto reads "en aumento de la justicia contra malhechores", more or less "increasing justice against offenders". It is usual to depict the 'u' as a 'v' in mottoes and similar instances, thus the motto actually is spelt "avmento". In this case, the traditional arms remain in use by the provincial authorities of Álava, whereas the Basque autonomous government omits the "monarchical, lordly and/or fratricidal" motto in the Álava quarter of their arms.

Santiago Dotor, 25 October 2000

The colour should be crimsom red, as shown in Calvo and Grávalos 1983 and Ministerio para las Administraciones Públicas 1992, maybe darker than in my image, RGB 255-0-0 or RGB 204-0-0.

Luis Miguel Arias, 14 November 2001

by Luis Miguel Arias

I have drawn the coat of arms following the design it has in the header of the Official Bulletin of the Province.

Luis Miguel Arias, 9 November 2001