For many people, the coat of arms of Madrid evokes ambiguous feelings, because its central part resembles shots from popular cartoons about bears, while in other details historical realities and loyalty to the crown are emphasized.
It is surprising that the capital of Spain did not choose the historical monuments, which are many in the city, or the bullfight, which is associated with this country, as the main heraldic symbols.
Description of the heraldic sign
Visually, on the coat of arms of the Spanish capital, three elements stand out, which, at first glance, seem to be completely independent from each other:
- a strawberry tree and a bear standing beside it;
- a blue, rather wide frame along the edge of the shield, which has a rounded shape at the bottom;
- royal precious crown.
The most interesting symbols are placed in the center. If the decorated crown frames can be seen on the coats of arms of various countries and cities, the strawberry tree is the only case in world practice.
And even the bear popular in heraldry on the coat of arms of Madrid appears in a different light. Most often, this animal symbolizes power, combat capability, readiness to defend the borders of the state. And only on the coat of arms of the Spanish capital does he appear as a peaceful character dreaming of eating delicious berries.
Strawberry legend
Why the strawberry tree appeared on the coat of arms of Spain, today even the townspeople find it difficult to answer, since at present the variety of species of this plant is found in North America, the Mediterranean, Ireland, but not in Spain.
There is a legend in which both the bear and the tree are associated with far from peaceful events. We are talking about the battle that took place at Las Navas de Tolosa in the distant 1212. Madrid decided to help the Castilian king Alfonso VII and sent a fighting detachment to help, on the banners of which a formidable bear was depicted.
After the victory, the king got the enemy's strawberry forests to emphasize the wealth of trophies and his victory, and he placed symbolic images of these trees on his coat of arms.
The first version of the coat of arms of Madrid is a scarlet bear standing on a green field on four legs. Since 1222, the bear has been standing on its hind legs and dreams of eating the fruits of the strawberry tree, the color of the animal's fur has become natural, brown. In the same year, an azure wide frame, decorated with silver stars, appeared.
Repeatedly changes were made to the image of the heraldic sign, in particular, the shape of the shield changed, a crown appeared, which also improved its outlines. But the meaning of the main symbols of the coat of arms of Madrid remained unchanged.
