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Lagos Municipality (Portugal)

Concelho de Lagos, Distrito de Faro

2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 Oct 1998

About the Flag
Version without Coat of Arms
Presentation of Lagos

See also:

External links:

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

About the Flag

The strange thing about this one is that the flag is quartered per saltire (blue and yellow), instead of gyronny. This is an atypical Portuguese municipal flag, with the coat of arms centred on blue and yellow quarterly per saltire background (where gyronny, for city rank, was expected).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 Oct 1998 / 15 Apr 2010

Coat of arms

image by Sérgio Horta,

The coat of arms is azure, a two towered castle wall or with port and windows sable in front of a sea of three waves vert and two argent, between the towers perhaps the arms of the elder son of a portuguese king: the national arms marked with a label argent. The coat of arms has a mural crown argent with five visible towers (city rank) and white scroll reading in black upper case letters "LAGOS"
Meaning:
"Lagos" means "lakes", probably refering to local salty marshes (as also the historical toponym Lacobrica), which may make the wavy base canting.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 Oct 1998 / 15 Apr 2010

Flag and arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário do Governo : II Série on 24 August 1967, an unexpectedly late date
António Martins-Tuválkin, 15 Apr 2010

Version without Coat of Arms

2:3 image by António Martins-Tuválkin, Apr 2010

This kind of plain flag is very unlikely to be used by any other in the future or by a commune. It is the blue over yellow flag of Lagos Municipality, divided per saltire, officially adopted and approved by the competent bodies, but unlawful under the light of their governing legislation.This is a unique case, dispensed (arguably) by the spirit of §3 of art.14 of law no. 53/91 of 7 August 1991.
Said spirit is to go against good heraldic practice and other legal prescriptions in order to make use of relevant and untypical details of the entity's heraldic or vexillologic heritage. Such is the case of Lagos, seat of Prince Henry the Navigator's efforts in the beginning of the Age of Discoveries; namely the saltire divided background pattern matching that of the flag of the Brazilian ships, and the contemporary national arms with a blue label charged with golden fleurs de lis, the Prince's own as 1st Duke of Viseu (title given thenceforth to the 3rd male child of the King of Portugal): see here and here.
Following the legal text strictly, this flag can be used without the arms on it, too, as it is two-coloured; however I could not find any proof of its use.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 14/15 Apr 2010

Presentation of Lagos

This municipality is in Algarve (current Faro District), with 28 890 inhabitants in 2001, living n 4 communes covering 212,84 km². It is part of Faro District, and traditional province, NUTS III, 1999 ref. adm. region, and C.C.R. / NUTS II Algarve.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 Oct 1998

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