Montemor-o-Novo Municipality (Portugal)

Concelho de Montemor-o-Novo, Distrito de Évora

Last modified: 2016-01-12 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: montemor-o-novo | castle(blue) | sun | crescent | bridge | base(wavy) | hill | pomegranate |
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• About the Flag
• Version without Coat of Arms
• Previous Symbols
• Presentation of Montemor-o-Novo

• Montemor-o-Novo Communes
• Portugal

• Page about Montemor-o-Novo at the Portuguese Municipalities’s Association website (incl. image of the arms)
  reported by António Martins, 18 Nov 2001

About the Flag

It is a fairly typical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a field gyronny (meaning city rank) of white and red.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 Mar 1999

The coat of arms is Argent, a three arched bridge Argent masoned Sable by a river of six wavy fesses, Argent and Azure, before a mound Sable, topped by a castle Azure, the central tower topped by a pomegranate Proper topped by Latin cross Sable, with port and windows Argent between a crescent and a sun Gules in chief. Mural crown Argent with five visible towers (city rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "CIDADE DE MONTEMOR-O-NOVO".
Meaning:
The name means «Main hill, the new one» (canting arms), because we have a Montemor-o-Velho, also. There is a castle in the city, alright, and also some bridges and streams, but that is usual. As for the sun and moon, all I can say is that, apart from the obvious moor connection (but then, what’s the sun?), the Order of Sant’Iago had it’s purple cross-sword usually placed between a sun and moon. The cross-sword shows usually as a symbol of links to this order (mostly in the area around this municipality) in Portuguese civic heraldry, but the moon and sun could be a variation of it….
António Martins-Tuválkin, 21 Mar 1999 and Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 Oct 2014

Montemor-o-Novo became seat of a municipality on 19 April 1988 an advisory opinion of the CHAAP about the current gyronny flag was presented on 25 June 1990 (but there is no information about an approval).
The former flag and arms were adopted and published in Diário da República: III Série on 31 March 1987.
António Martins-Tuválkin,

Version without Coat of Arms

Previous Symbols

The former flag was plain red and the coat of arms was slightly different, there had been just four visible towers (town) and the scroll bore the inscription "MONTEMOR-O-NOVO". Klaus-Michael Schneider, 31 Oct 2014

Presentation of Montemor-o-Novo

Montemor-o-Novo municipality had 18 290 inhabitants in 1990, and is divided in 10 communes, covering 1232 km². It belongs to the Évora District and to the old province of Alto Alentejo.
António Martins-Tuválkin,, 21 Mar 1999

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