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Chipiona (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Chipiona, two versions - Images by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 1 December 2009, coat of arms from the Símbolos de Cadíz website

Presentation of Chipiona
Symbols of Chipiona

See also:

Presentation of Chipiona

The municipality of Chipiona (18,930 inhabitants in 2013; 3,292 ha; municipal website) is located 60 km north-west of Cádiz.

Luis de Igartuburu (Manual de Provincia de Cádiz, 1847) claims that in antiquity a temple existed near Chipiona, dedicated to the goddess Venus Chipriota. Igartuburu thinks that the town's name is probably a corruption of "Chipriota". The ancient historians Strabo and Pomponia Mela, however, report that the place was known as "Coepionis Turris" (Scipio's Tower), which was turned to "Torre de Cepión", which in the end turned to "Chipiona". Indeed Chipiona has had a lighthouse since the days of the Romans; the today's lighthouse is the highest of the whole Spanish Atlantic shore.

Klaus-Michael Schneider, 1 December 2009

Symbols of Chipiona

The (unofficial) flag of Chipiona is horizontally divided blue-white, either with (as seen on 13 November 2009 at the Tourist Office) or without (as seen on 8 November 2009 near the lighthouse) the municipal coat of arms.

The first coat of arms of Chipiona was prescribed by Decree No. 430, adopted on 29 January 1970 and published on 24 Feburary 1970 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 47, p. 2,977 (text).
The "rehabilitated", traditional coat of arms, validated by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed as follows:

Coat of arms: Azure a tower or masoned sable port and windows gules on waves argent and azure ensigned by an eight-pointed star argent. A bordure or inscribed with "SCIPIONIS TURRIS" in letters sable. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown [open].

The modification of the writing on the bordure of the coat of arms to "CAEPIONIS TURRIS", adopted on 20 June 1996 by the Municipal Council and validated on 29 July 1997 by the Royal Academy of Cordóba, is prescribed by Decree No. 258, adopted on 4 November 1997 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 27 November 1997 in the official gazette of Andalusia, no. 138, pp. 14,063-14,064 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).

The tower represents a fortification erected by the Tartessians or by Scipio. The star represents godess Venus, once adorated as the Morning Star. The waves represent the Atlantic Ocean.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Cádiz (PDF file)]

Klaus-Michael Schneider & Ivan Sache, 1 December 2009