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Heraldica Española - Spanish Civic Heraldry

Origin/meaning:
The Romans founded Tarraco (Latin name for Tarragona) on a hill near the Mediterranean sea, in 218 bC: the Imperial city (with 30.000 people living in, and having a circus, a theatre and an amphitheatre) became the chief town of Hispania Citerior, later called Tarraconensis province. After the domination of Visigoths (5^th century) and Muslims (8^th century), the city was conquered by Borrell II, count of Barcelona, in 960. Repopulated by the Crown and the bishop of Barcelona (named archbishop of Tarragona), finally the king John I sold his rights on the city to the archbishopric in 1391. Tarragona has become the centre of the Tarraconensis ecclesiastic province, that gathers all the Catalonian dioceses: the city is the Episcopal see of the Catalan Church.
The traditional arms of Tarragona (not official, but widely used by the local council) have been ever since the wavy pales Gules on Or; despite the number of pales has been variable, since the 17^th century they have been established in four (some opinions say that they are derived from the royal arms of Catalonia-Aragon, four pales Gules on Or). During Franco's Dictatorship period (1939-75), the arms changed their colours in Azure and Argent, as shown below in an old post stamp, and at present they have taken back their traditional Gules and Or colours.

Literature : Image taken from here; background from Enric Fontvila, Barcelona.

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