The Andorra flag, its four-quartered coat of arms and the national anthem

You’ll recognise Andorra’s flag by its coat of arms rather than its colours. Blue, yellow and red in vertical stripes isn’t unique in Europe, so what makes it Andorran is the badge in the middle, with a bishop’s mitre, some red stripes and a pair of cows. I think it’s one of the friendliest coats of arms on the continent, and it tells the country’s whole story in miniature.

What the flag looks like, according to the official text

Rather than repeat hearsay, I’ve gone back to the wording that fixed it. On 22 December 1942 the General Council declared the official flag to be three colours running vertically, blue, yellow and red, of equal size and with the blue attached to the pole. The decision is quoted in full in a study of the anthem by the Andorran National Archive. Spain’s Foreign Ministry adds that the coat of arms sits in the centre.

That 1942 decision underpins article 2.2 of the 1993 Constitution, which says the national anthem, flag and arms of Andorra are the traditional ones. The Constitution didn’t invent the symbols, it confirmed them.

What do the colours mean?

I have to be careful here. Spain’s Foreign Ministry says blue represents France, yellow Andorra and red Spain. I haven’t found an official Andorran text that says the same, so I pass it on as the ministry’s reading rather than as settled fact.

It does fit the history, though, since the flag brings together the two neighbours whose lords created the principality. The background is on the history of Andorra.

A coat of arms with a mitre, stripes and cows

The 1942 decision adopted the coat of arms exactly as it appeared over the entrance of the Casa de la Vall, split into four quarters. The first shows a crozier and mitre. The second has three red stripes on gold, the third four red stripes on gold, and the fourth two golden cows with bells round their necks on a green field, facing outwards.

Spain’s Foreign Ministry sums it up as two quarters for each co-prince. The mitre and crozier point to the Bishop of Urgell, one of the co-princes of Andorra. Below runs the motto Virtus, Unita, Fortior, which Andorra Turisme places on the front of the Casa de la Vall.

I’d go and see it. It isn’t often that the official model of a national symbol is simply there in stone, on a street in the old town.

The anthem, «El gran Carlemany»

The anthem is named after Charlemagne, the emperor of Andorra’s founding legend. According to the National Archive, it was born in 1914 around the celebrations for the Virgin of Meritxell, with words by Dr Joan Benlloch, a former Bishop of Urgell and co-prince, and music by Enric Marfany, a priest born in Andorra. The General Council declared it the national anthem in 1917 and made it official on 22 December 1942, alongside the flag and the arms.

The archive links that date to the wider war. In November 1942 Nazi Germany occupied Vichy France and reached Andorra’s northern border, and the council feared for the country’s sovereignty. Making the symbols official was a way of asserting statehood. Of everything I read about these symbols, that’s the detail I found most striking.

The arms in your pocket

There’s a cheaper way to take the coat of arms home than any souvenir shop. Since 2014 Andorra has minted its own euro coins with four designs, and according to Andorra Turisme the €2 coin carries the national arms. The €1 shows the Casa de la Vall, the 50, 20 and 10 cent coins show Santa Coloma, and the smallest ones a chamois and a bearded vulture. There’s no guarantee you’ll be given one in your change, but it’s worth checking your coins before you leave. More on paying in Andorra’s currency.

The national flower and the patron saint

The national flower is the grandalla, which Andorra Turisme says has six petals in honour of the six original parishes, before Escaldes-Engordany became the seventh in 1978. The patron saint is Our Lady of Meritxell, and her feast day on 8 September is one of only four days a year when the shops shut. There’s more in Andorra’s national day.

One practical tip to finish. If you want a photo of the flag flying with the arms clearly visible, public buildings and museums tend to fly it, like the Casa Cristo museum in Encamp pictured at the top of this page. If you like this sort of detail, there’s more in Andorra facts.