Fahnen, Flaggen und Kalender bei Fanshop-Online.de bestellen
^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website.}

FOTW beschäftigt sich mit der Wissenschaft der Vexillologie (Flaggenkunde).
Alle auf dieser Website dargebotenen Abbildungen dienen ausschließlich der Informationsvermittlung im Sinne der Flaggenkunde.
Wir distanziert uns ausdrücklich von allen hierauf dargestellten Symbolen verfassungsfeindlicher Organisationen.

Province of León (Castilla y León, Spain)

Flag of the Province of León
Left, as currently used - Image by "HansenBCN" (Wikimedia Commons), 5 June 2011
Right, as reported in 1999 - Image by Antonio Gutiérrez (VexiLeón website), 15 July 1999

Presentation of the Province of León
Symbols of the Province of León
Municipalities in the Province of León
El Bierzo district
University of León (Universidad de León - ULE)

See also:

Presentation of the Province of León

The Province of León (499,284 inhabitants in 2010; 15,581 sq. km, therefore the biggest province in Castilla y León by its area) is located in the northeast of Castilla y León.

Ivan Sache, 5 June 2011

Symbols of Province of León

The flag of the Province of León is crimson with the provincial coat of arms in the center, "Argent a lion purpure armed, langued and crowned or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown open".
The flag does not seem to be prescribed by a specific text, but is widely used by the Provincial Government. Several photographs available on the website of the Provincial Government show the flag hoisted in meeting rooms, on buildings (photo), or presented to celebrities (photo, photo).
The flag in current use appears to be of a darker shade than reported earlier (1999).

The connection of the flag of León with the banners of the old Kingdom of León is not clear.

The origin of the modern flag of León is indeed unknown. The flag is most probably not as old as usually believed. First, the design of flags with a coat of arms in the middle is a late heraldic tradition. Second, the first description of a banner of that design is credited to Waldo Merino in an act dated 18 February 1789, recorded in Libro de Acuerdos Municipales (Record of Municipal Acts); the town's banner is described as crimson with six escutcheons argent with a lion or. In the 19th century, the banner was renewed for each coronation of a new King, with the number of escutcheons varying. The banner kept today in the Mayor's office, the one mentioned by Merino or a slightly later one, is crimson with a shield bearing a lion rampant in the middle and two smaller escutcheons in the point. This banner must have been used in the 19th century to design the modern Leonese flag.

Ivan Sache, 5 June 2011

University of León

Current and former (1981-1988) flag of ULE - Images by Luis Miguel Arias & Ivan Sache, 30 July 2011

ULE (website) was founded on 30 October 1979, "succeeding" the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, itself founded in 1943 as a dependency of the University of Oviedo. ULE has its main campus in the town of León and a smaller, secondary campus, in Ponferrada.

The symbols of ULE are prescribed in Article 228 of the University's Statutes, which were approved by Agreement No. 243, adopted on 23 October 2003 by the Government of Castilla y León and published on 29 October 2003 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 210, pp. 14,360-14,392 (text):

1. The coat of arms of the University of León shall match the following description and style of drawing.
Spanish shield surmounted by the Royal Crown: On a field argent a lion rampant purpure armed and crowned or; a narrow chief gules with the writing 'Universitas Legionensis' in capital letters or and sinister the Cross of Victory proper.
2. The flag of the University of León shall be: A Spanish flag of light green color [the veterinarians' corporate color], with the coat of arms of the University of León in its geometric center.
3. The seal of the University of León shall be the reproduction of its coat of arms.
4. The governing and representative bodies of the University shall use the symbols in their official activities when naturally required. They symbols can also be used by members of the university's community in official academic activities. Their use is forbidden to other persons and entities, unless authorized by a Decree of the Director, who shall inform the Governing Council.

The Manual de Identidad Visual Corporativa of ULE presents the coat of arms as redesigned "with small modifications that optimize it and make it closer to the original". Two versions of the coat of arms are proposed, either in seven or five colours (The version in five colours omits blue and green):

         Pantone           CMYK
Blue     Cyan CV        100-0-0-0
Gold     871 (or 125)  0-20-100-15
Green    368 CV        100-0-100-0
Red      485 CV        0-100-100-0
Purple   Purple CV      0-100-0-0
Silver   877 (or 420)   0-0-0-15
Black

The hoisting of flags on the balcony of the Directorate of ULE was a matter of dispute in 2003. The Municipality of León threatened to cancel its convention with ULE because the flag of León was not hoisted on the balcony.
The dispute was solved in the next weeks with the erection of a pole in front of the building, on which the flag of León was hoisted "at the same height as the flags hoisted on the balcony".
[Diario de León, 12 February 2003; 11 March 2004]

Ivan Sache & Luis Miguel Arias, 30 July 2011

Hosted by: Fanshop-Online.de und Handy-Shop.de
Tipp: Apple iPhone Xs