Aragon Symbols

The current coat of arms of Aragon is composed of the four barracks and is attested for the first time in 1499, consolidating since the Early Modern Ages to take root decisively in the 19th century and be approved, according to precept, by the Real Academia de la Historia in 1921.

The first quartering appears at the end of the 15th century and commemorates, according to traditional interpretation, the legendary kingdom of Sobrarbe; in the second quarter there is the so-called “Cross of Íñigo Arista”, innovation of Peter IV of Aragon (from an anachronistic interpretation of the cross that symbolized the religion of the Asturian, Navarrese and Aragonese Christian kings), who took it as shields of the ancient kings of Aragon, although historically there were no heraldic emblems in the peninsula (or “signal shields”, as it was said in the Middle Ages) before the union dynastic of 1137 of the House of Aragon with the House of Barcelona; in the third quartering appears the Saint George’s Cross escutcheoned of four heads of Moors (the call “Cross of Alcoraz”), that is witnessed for the first time in a seal of 1281 of Peter III of Aragon and would remember, according to tradition arising from the 14th century, the battle in which Peter I of Aragon and Pamplona and the future Alfonso I of Aragon took Huesca and was considered in the Early modern Ages one of the proprietary emblems of the kingdom of Aragon; and in the fourth is the emblem of the so-called “bars of Aragon” or Royal Sign of Aragon, the oldest of the heraldic emblems that are part of the current coat of arms, dated in the second half of the 12th century.

This emblem of gules and gold was used in seals, banners, shields and standards indistinctly, not being but a familiar emblem that later denoted the authority as King of Aragon until, with the birth of Modern State, began to be a territorial symbol.

The current flag was approved in 1984, with the provisions of Article 3 of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon, the flag is the traditional of the four horizontal red bars on a yellow background with the coat of arms of Aragon shifted towards the flagpole.

The bars of Aragon, common historic element of the current four autonomous communities that once were integrated into the Crown of Aragon, present in the third quartering of the coat of arms of Spain.

The anthem of Aragon (himno de Aragón) was regulated in 1989 with music by the Aragonese composer Antón García Abril that combines the old Aragonese musical tradition with popular musical elements within a modern conception. The lyrics were elaborated by the Aragonese poets Ildefonso Manuel Gil, Ángel Guinda, Rosendo Tello and Manuel Vilas and highlights within its poetic framework, values such as freedom, justice, reason, truth, open land … that historically represent the expression of Aragon as a people.

The Day of Aragon is celebrated on April 23 and commemorates Saint George, patron of the Kingdom of Aragon since the 15th century. It appears in Article 3 of the Statute of Autonomy of Aragon since 1984. Institutional acts such as the delivery of the Aragon Awards by the Government of Aragon or the composition of a flag of Aragon of flowers, with the collaboration of citizens, in the Plaza de Aragón square of Zaragoza.

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