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Vila Franca das Naves e Feital Commune (Portugal)

Freguesia de Vila Franca das Naves e Feital, Concelho de Trancoso, Distrito da Guarda

Last modified: 2014-08-30 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: vila franca das naves | cogwheel | grapes(2) | rail profiles(2) |
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[Vila Franca das Naves commune (- 2013)] 2:3 image by Sérgio Horta, 8 July 2009
flag of former Vila Franca das Naves commune
See also:

About the Flag

It is a typical Portuguese communal flag, with the coat of arms centred on a plain white field (village rank).
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Coat of arms

[Vila Franca das Naves commune CoA (- 2013)] image by Sérgio Horta, 8 July 2009

The arms are Vert a cogwheel Or between two bunches of grapes Or leaved Argent in chief and two rail profiles Argent in base. Mural crown Argent with three visible towers (village rank) and white scroll reading "VILA FRANCA DAS NAVES" in black upper case letters.
Meaning:
Although the toponym includes the word "vila" ("town"), the commune seat was upgraded to this status only in 2004, hence the three-tower crown, adopted in 2003. A revised version, once approved by CHAAP, will dully replace it with a four-tower and change the flag to white-green quartered. (editorial note: there is not yet evidence for a quartered flag, but for arms with four visible towers in the mural crown; kms) The toponym is however ancient - once known as Vila Franca ("fair town", one of many so called) or Vila Franca do Conde ("count's"…), implying an importance that was meanwhile lost untill 2004. The cogwheel in the arms may refer to a less modern kind of industry ("nave" means in Portuguese both "ship" and "nave" - neither shown in the arms). While the grapes mark the local importance of viticulture, the rail profiles stand for the local railway, where the Lisbon-Paris line takes a sharp U-bend.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Flag and arms adopted and published in the official journal Diário da República: III Série in 2003.04.03
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

Presentation of Vila Franca das Naves

Vila Franca das Naves Commune was one of the pre-2013 communes of Trancoso Municipality (q.v.); it had 1400 inhabitants in 2001 and covered 10,75 km².
António Martins-Tuválkin, 8 July 2009

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