Coat of arms of Chihuahua

Coat of Arms of Chihuahua
Adopted	20 January 1983 (by José María Ponce de León)

The Coat of arms of Chihuahua (Spanish: Escudo de Chihuahua, lit. "state shield of Chihuahua") is a symbol of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua.

Symbolism

The coat of arms of the state of Chihuahua is of the Gothic ogival type, that is, it ends in a point. (This is unusual among the coats of arms of Mexico, which follow the Spanish heraldic tradition. It is said that the shape of this one is due to the fact that the creator was a French citizen living in the City of Chihuahua, but this is not verifiable in 2007). It is composed of a gules (red) border with the upper part reading "Estado D Chih", acronym for the State of Chihuahua and on the sides, the state motto "Valentía, Lealtad, Hospitalidad" (Valentines, Loyalty, Hospitality), in silver letters and also an apple blossom at each of the upper ends.

Variant of the municipal coat of arms of Chihuahua used by the state until 1983. The main body of the coat of arms is divided into three asymmetrical quarters, separated from each other and from the border by a fillet of laurel leaves in green; the main quarter shows, against the blue sky, the three hills that dominate the landscape of the city of Chihuahua, the state capital, which are "El Coronel", "Santa Rosa" and "Grande" in their natural color; and in the foreground from left to right a mine winch, a section of the state capital's aqueduct and a mesquite tree.

The central quarter is checkered with sixteen pieces, eight of silver and eight of gules, which represent the votes for and against that were cast to found the city of Chihuahua in 1709 and which resulted in a tie, and above them are the profile faces of a Spanish conqueror and a Tarahumara Indian facing each other. In the lower quarter, in blue, the frontispiece of the Chihuahua cathedral in gold.

The coat of arms of the municipality of Chihuahua is exactly the same as that of the state. Only with two differences, in the place of State of Chih it says, Sn Phe el Rl de Chih, "Sna Phelipe el Real de Chihuahua". The other difference is that the state coat of arms does not include the gold and silver lambriques or the helmet.

History

State Coat of Arms of Chihuahua, inside Government palace.

The State of Chihuahua did not have an official state coat of arms, and because the one designed by José María Ponce de León, painted by the Chihuahua state native Raúl López on the walls of the Secretariat of Public Education in the Federal District, although it was placed there by order of Minister José Vasconcelos, was never recognized as the official coat of arms that identified the State of Chihuahua.

On the other hand, the constant use of the coat of arms of the City of Chihuahua, as the coat of arms of the State, became traditional for the people of Chihuahua and on January 20, 1983 the State Executive presented a draft decree to the State Congress, with the objective of adopting the coat of arms of the Municipality of Chihuahua in its entirety, replacing only the legend “SN PHE EL RL. DE CHIH.” on its upper part, with that of ESTADO DE CHIHUAHUA.

Historical coats

The symbol is used by all successive regimes in different forms.

• 
  First Coat of arms.
• 
  Coat of arms from 1983.

See also

• Chihuahua
• Coat of arms of Mexico
• Symbols of Chihuahua City

External links

• CRW Flags, coat of arms of Chihuahua.