Barcelona
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BARCELONA
Region : Catalonia
Province : Barcelona
Official blazon
- (ca) Escut caironat quarterat: al 1r. i al 4t., d'argent, una creu plena de gules; i al 2n. I al 3r., d'or, 4 pals de gules. Per timbre una corona reial.
- (es) Escudo embaldosado cuartelado: al primero y al cuarto, de plata, una cruz llena de gules; y al segundo y al tercero, de oro, cuatro palos de gules. Por timbre, una corona real.
Origin/meaning
The arms are a combination of the arms of the cathedral and diocese of Barcelona and the arms of the Counts of Barcelona. The first show the cross of St. George the patron saint of the city. The latter arms are derived from the arms of Aragón. The arms symbolise the four lines of blood that the French emperor Charles the Bald draw with the blood of the count of Barcelona, Guifré el Pelós (or Geoffrey the Hairy, in the translated version in English), on the golden shield of the count itself.
The arms of the counts of Barcelona (four gules pales on gold), also called the royal arms, are not derived from the ones of Aragon, but on the contrary, the arms of Aragon are derived from the ones of the counts of Barcelona: in 1137 the count Ramon Berenguer IV married Peronella, daughter of the Aragonese king Ramiro II, and that leads to the union of the two kingdoms (nominally Catalonia was a mixture of counties, but the count of Barcelona acted in fact as a king), or the Confederation of Catalonia-Aragon, or simply Kingdom of Aragon (previously, the Aragonese arms showed a silver cross on azure). Since the union, the arms of Aragon (considering all the Confederation, and not only the strict and former Aragon kingdom) will show the four pales of Barcelona. The city, being the capital of the new kingdom, has a king crown at the top.
King Pere III el Cerimoniós (Peter the Ceremonious) conceded to the city the royal arms with the four pales the 4th July 1345.
 The arms are also part of the famous logo of the F.C. Barcelona |
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© since 1995, Heraldry of the World, Ralf Hartemink 
Index of the site
Literature : de Cadenas, A. A. and de Cadenas, V. : Heraldica de las comunidades autonomas y de las capitales de provincia. Hidalguia, Madrid, 1985; Backround from Encri Fontvila