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Province of Toledo (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain)

Flag of the Province of Toledo - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 November 2015

Presentation of the Province of Toledo
Symbols of the Province of Toledo
Municipalities in the Province of Toledo

See also:

Presentation of the Province of Toledo

The Province of Toledo (706,407 inhabitants in 2013; 153,700 ha) is the westernmost province of Castilla-La Mancha. The province is made of 204 municipalities, the most populated being Talavera de la Reina (88,548 inh.) - slightly more populated than the capital, Toledo (83,593 inh.) -, and the least populated being Illán de Vacas (1 inh.), also Spain's least populated municipality.

Ivan Sache, 29 November 2015

Symbols of the Province of Toledo

The flag and arms of the Province of Toledo are prescribed in a Decree adopted on 13 May 2013 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 29 May 2013 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 103, p. 14,671 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Green, or vert, with the coat of arms.
Coat of arms: A double-headed eagle sable bearing an escutcheon per pale, 1. Quarterly Castile and León, 2. Azure an Imperial crown or. The shield surmounted by an Imperial crown ensigned by an orb and a cross. The shield surrounded by the Golden Fleece or. The shield flanked by the Pillars of Hercules standing on waves azure, surmounted by an Imperial crown and tied with the motto "Plus Ultra".

The symbols, unanimously adopted on 19 October 2012 by the Community Assembly, were inaugurated on 18 October 2013 (video). They were designed with the support of the Royal Academy of Arts and Historical Sciences of Toledo. The repostero featuring the new arms, exhibited in the hall of the Provincial Council, was embroidered by the alumni of the Technical School "Fray Juan de los Ángeles" in Lagartera.
[ABC, 18 October 2013; Lagartera TV]

The symbols were redesigned for the sake of differentiation from those used by the town of Toledo. The two coats of arms are nearly identical - the only difference is to be found in the supporters of the shield, two Kings of Arms on the town's flag and the Pillars of Hercules on the provincial flag. The eagle and the outer ornaments - collar, pillars and crown - were not modified to avoid a radical modification of the coat of arms. The quartered shield of Castile and León was transferred to the first quarter of the new shield, which incorporates a brand new second quarter. The Imperial crown is the symbol of the old Kingdom of Toledo.
No justification was found for the use of green for the flag's field. The Academy proposed to change it, to no avail.
[La Tribuna de Toledo, 30 May 2013]

The wording of the reports makes it clear that the previous flag, in very limited use, already had a green background, not red as sometimes reported (for instance, in Banderas y Escudos de las provincias de España [e9d92], published in 1992 by the Ministry of Public Administrations).
The flag appears to be used in the meeting room of the Provincial Council (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo)

Ivan Sache, 29 November 2015