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University of Extremadura (Spain)

Universidad de Extremadura - UEx

Flag of UEx, current and former versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 20 October 2019

Presentation of UEx
Flag of UEx

See also:

Presentation of UEx

UEx (website) was established by Decree No. 991, issued on 10 May 1973 by the Spanish Government and published on 18 May 1973 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 119, p. 9,959 (text).
The UEx originally integrated the Faculty of Sciences of Badajoz, the University Schools of Basic General Professorate of Cáceres and Badajoz, the School of Agricultural Technical Engineering of Badajoz, and the University College of Cáceres. The scientific, medical and related faculties were assigned to Badajoz, while the humanities and law faculties were assigned to Cáceres.

The UEx operates today two campuses (Badajoz and Cáceres) and two university centers (Mérida and Plasencia). It is composed of 12 Faculties and 4 Schools.

Ivan Sache, 20 October 2019

Flag of UEx

The symbols of UEx are prescribed in the General Regulation on Symbols, Protocol and Honors of the University of Extremadura, adopted by a Resolution issued in 28 June 2013 by the Governing Board of the UEx and published on 25 July 2013 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 143, pp. 17,928-17,953 (text).

The flag of UEx (photo, photo) is prescribed in Article 6.
The flag of the University of Extremadura, defined in the university's Statutes, shall be rectangular, its length one third larger than its width, divided by a pale argent; the sinister part, vert, and the dexter orange; in the center, the coat of arms.

The coat of arms of UEx is prescribed in Article 5.
Circular, orled argent with the writing sable "UNIVERSITAS EXTREMATURENSIS MCMLXXII". Quarterly per cross and charged in the center by a shield in Spanish shape, with a white field with a representation of the sitting Virgin of Guadalupe clad with a blue cloak and crowned or, Baby Jesus on her chest clad and crowned or, their face sable. In chief sinister on a field vert a lion rampant gules looking at sinister leaning to a column of grey marble with white bends for the writing sable "Plus Ultra", also the color of the outline of the two charges. In chief dexter, on a field or, a tree proper with white scrolls, one of them larger and wrapping the trunk, inscribed sable "Arbor Scientiae" and the other, between the branches inscribed also in Latin with the names of the sciences. In base sinister, per pale: in the sinister third, a castle maroon on a field argent and in the remaining dexter a lion rampant gules crowned and looking at sinister on a field vert.

The description of the two symbols is flawed by the mix of heraldic and non-heraldic terms and the improper use of "sinister" for "left" and "dexter" for "right". The lion, castle, column and tree are taken from the coat of arms of the Extremadura, which is also flawed, heraldically speaking.

The Spanish Virgin of Guadalupe is venerated in the monastery of Guadalupe (Cáceres).
Stripped of her ornate shell, the titular Virgin of Guadalupe is a surprisingly diminutive sculpture just over two feet in height (59 cm) but growing another foot once dressed and on her pedestal. The polychromed cedar sculpture is of an enthroned Madonna with the Christ Child.
The Extremaduran Mary is also one of the many imágenes de vestir (dressed images) that populated the Iberian peninsula. Since at least 1389, the first dated inventory of her wardrobe, the wooden figures have been encased in lavishly embroidered vestments, allowing only their faces and hands to appear. The underlying sculpture has remained essentially unknown and rarely published.
The ambiguity surrounding Guadalupe's appearance is already evident in the object's foundational legend. There is documentary evidence of an active shrine early in the fourteenth century, but her legend, first recorded over a century later, is deftly grafted onto early church history. Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to be the same miracle-working icon sculpted by St. Luke and cherished by Pope Gregory I (540-604). Her proven efficacy in ending an epidemic in Rome made "this image" an appropriate gift for San Leandro, bishop of Seville, Spain. The Muslim invasion forced evacuation of the Guadalupe image to Extremadura where she was buried in a cave for safekeeping, only to be discovered 600 years later by a humble shepherd. Of interest is how the devotional object shifts over time in the Guadalupe chronicles from a generic ÒimageÓ or sculpture (1400-40) to a figure found in her subterranean tomb in pristine vestments of velvet. As the legend evolves, the opulently dressed Guadalupe is granted the same originary status as St. Luke's carved sculpture.
The icon reputedly offered supernatural aid in the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the "infidels," forging close ties between the Jeronymite monastery of Guadalupe and the crown. The royal prerogatives granted by the Catholic Monarchs and subsequent Hapsburg rulers, converted Guadalupe's monastic complex into one of the wealthiest ecclesiastical establishments of its day.
[Jeanette Favrot Peterson (Yale University). The Virgin of Guadalupe, Extremadura, Spain]

This design seems to have been superseded in mid 2018 by a flag with the three vertical stripes of equal size and the coat of arms contained into the central, white stripe (photo, photo).

The flags on the source images feature slightly different versions of the coat of arms, none of them matching the drawing presented on the university website (image). Oddly enough, the Virgin is not represented sable, as prescribed, while the statue is one of the most famous Black Madonnas of the Christian world and one of the three examples known in Spain.

Ivan Sache, 20 October 2019