Coat of Arms of Andalusia - Origin

Origin

The coat of arms sees its origin in an agreement made by the pro-autonomist Assembly of Ronda in 1918, designed by Blas Infante, "Father of Andalusia". More than seventy years later, article 3 of the 1982 Statute of Autonomy for Andalusia stated:

Andalusia will have its own coat of arms, approved de jure by its Parliament, in which the following legend shall appear: (Andalusia by herself, for Spain and for Humankind), taking into account the agreement adopted by the Assembly of Ronda of 1918."

The figure of the mythical Greek hero Heracles (Latin: Hercules), son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena, appears between the columns. He is seen seizing and taming two lions, each representing the power of animal instinct, above the legend: . An arc joins the two columns with the Latin inscription: "". Many of these elements were adopted from the arms of the city of Cádiz.

According to Blas Infante, the creation of the arms can in no way be seen as a meaningless invention, but as that of a series of modifications of traditional Andalusian elements: "We, Andalusian regionalists or nationalists, have not come to invent anything new. We had simply recognised, in our action, what the people created on its own, hence giving due value to its history ".

In the original coat of arms, Infante included the words, as a reminder of two of the most important periods of the history of Andalusia.

Other versions exist in addition to the official arms. The main difference is the motto, in that it is tied to a more nationalistic version, reading: " (Andalusia by herself, for the peoples and for Humankind), as it appeared in a rough draft of the Assembly of Ronda of 1918.