The piece of the month of September 2025

THE FLAG OF THE CITY OF PAMPLONA

Alejandro Aranda Ruiz
Cultural Heritage. Archbishopric of Pamplona and Tudela.

Between the 19th and 20th centuries there have been several flags used by the City Council of Pamplona in the events that made up its calendar of annual festivities, namely: the flag of the city, the banner or royal banner, the flag of the bull of the Holy Crusade, the banners of the brotherhoods of the Soledad and the Vera Cruz - very possibly replaced in the 19th century by the black flag that today is carried by a councilman in the function of the Cinco Llagas - or the banner of the reservation the convent of the Augustinian Recollect nuns of the capital. 

Of all of them, the most significant banner for the city council of Iruñea was the flag of the city, which should not be confused with the royal standard or banner, an ensign made to be displayed at the royal proclamation ceremony held on the occasion of the assumption of the throne of a new monarch. Although since the proclamation of Philip III in 1598 these banners always showed the coat of arms of Pamplona, they were different objects from the flag of the city, of which they came to constitute a smaller version, as noted in the Golden Book written by the municipal secretary Serafín López de Urrelo around 1830.

Blue and white flag of Pamplona, ca. 1830. AMP 000.99. Photo: José Luis Larrión. 

The origin of the flag of Pamplona: the Privilege of the Union of 1423

The Privilege of the Union of 1423 is the first document in which the guidelines of how the flag of the city should be. The text, granted by Charles III, when describing the arms of the city equated these to the seals and the banner, as these were the main supports that would house the civic arms. From this Juan José Martinena has deduced that the coat of arms would occupy the entire field of the flag, so we would find that the primitive flag of Pamplona would consist of a heraldic banner.

Obverse of the green flag of Pamplona, 1923. AMP 000. 127. Photo: José Luis Larrión.

Reverse of the green flag of Pamplona, 1923. AMP 000. 127. Photo: José Luis Larrión.

City flags and banners

However, over time Pamplona came to have different types of civic banners, many of which seem to coexist over time. Consequently, when speaking of the flag of Pamplona in the past, it is more appropriate to use the plural and speak of the flags of Pamplona. Not in vain, all these flags were exhibited as precious relics in the conference room . Thus, in 1558 after a military incursion made to San Juan de Luz with the royal banner of the proclamation of Philip II, the City ordered that it be deposited "in the said Chamber of the enquiry where the other flags and banners of this City". We do not know the reasons why the City Council of Pamplona made use of different flags, whose colors varied over time, perhaps depending on the context in which the flag was used, the availability materials, changes in taste or other reasons that escape us. Be that as it may, the oldest known references to the flag of Pamplona after 1423 occur in military contexts of boasts, reviews and military expeditions in which the residents of Pamplona were mobilized under its flag. Thus, for example, in 1551 Juan de Beaumont, warden of the fortress of Viana, claimed to have seen the flag of Pamplona "in all its time in the boasts and displays [...] for two and three and more times". In a parade organized by the city council in 1559 the alderman Juan de Liédena "carried the green banner of the arms of this city". Likewise, on the occasion of the visits to Pamplona of Isabella of Valois in 1560 and Philip II in 1592, two parades were organized with the residents of Pamplona mobilized under the flag of the city. Another occasion was a parade in 1634 for which "the four flags of the city" were decorated.

But undoubtedly, the most important data related to the flag of Pamplona are those related to the processions of Corpus Christi and San Fermin, which were the only festivities of the city council in which the municipal banner was used. In fact, the celebration of these solemnities used to be used to renew the flag that was used in the function, as when in the procession of the Corpus of 1560 "a new flag of taffeta with green field and a lion in it with crown and chain and golden border in the same way as the other old flag" or the "new banner that was made for the day of the glorious San Fermín" in 1657 was premiered. 

Obverse of the green flag of Pamplona, ca. 1930. AMP 000. 138. Photo: José Luis Larrión.

Reverse of the green flag of Pamplona, ca. 1930. AMP 000. 138. Photo: José Luis Larrión.

The green flag of Pamplona

The variety in the shapes and colors of the flag of Pamplona was a constant until well into the twentieth century. At some point in the 18th century the blue and white flag described in the Libro de Oro was established, corresponding to the painted banner preserved in the Municipal file : "white with blue swirls, the cross of Burgundy and its arms". In 1899 the town council had a new flag for its public functions, painted by Natalio Hualde. This flag was replaced in 1915 by a new white one made by the Adorers nuns, who embroidered on one side the coat of arms of the capital and on the other the emblem of the Five Wounds, introducing for the first time in the flag of the city this religious motif similar to the flags of other localities of Navarre. In 1923, on the occasion of the fifth centenary of the Privilege of the Union, the city council agreed to establish green as the color of the flag based on the historical precedents already mentioned. This started a controversy about the color of the flag in which between 1923 and 1930 councilors, historians and scholars such as Arturo Campión, the king of arms of Navarre José de Rújula, Joaquín Marichalar, Juan Guerra, José María de Huarte, Ignacio Baleztena or Jesús Etayo debated about whether the standard of Pamplona should be green, white or blanquizaul. After a first agreement on August 4, 1924 that the flag should be white and blue, on June 5, 1930 the city council final agreed that the flag should be green. 

The three flags preserved in the Municipal file must correspond to these years. The first of them, catalogued with the issue AMP 000.127, is green. According to Alicia Andueza, the ensign was embroidered by the Adorers in compliance with the municipal agreement of 1923 by which green was adopted as the official color of Pamplona. However, the municipal decision to dye the white flag carried by the trustee in the processions and to make a new green flag, together with the resemblance of the coat of arms of this flag with that of 1915, lead us to think that the flag made by the Adoratrices was another one and that the embroidery of the coat of arms of the 1915 flag was simply transferred to this example. 

The second flag, catalogued with the issue AMP 000.139, has its field divided in two halves, blue and white, and sample in each of the faces the emblem of the Five Wounds and the painted coat of arms of Pamplona stamped by a closed royal crown, as it was usual during the Restoration. We know that in August 1924 the city council adopted again as city ensign the white-blue one and in this sense Diario de Navarra 12-10-1924) informed that it had been made by the adoratrices an ensign of "silk satin in two colors; blue in its superior half, and white in the inferior one" and that in the obverse had been placed the shield transferred from the previous flag (the one embroidered in the green flag in 1923?) to which had been added the royal crown and in the reverse the Five Wounds. Consequently, this specimen would be a simpler version of the 1924 flag, made between that date and 1930.

Finally, the flag catalogued with the issue AMP 000.138 is again of green color with the Cinco Llagas on the back and the coat of arms of Pamplona on the obverse adjusted to a composition similar to the wax seal of the Privilege of the Union. In 1930 the consistory definitively adopted the green color for the flag, moment in which undoubtedly this specimen would be made. In fact, both the coat of arms and the emblem of the Cinco Llagas coincide with those shown in the photographs published by Diario de Navarra of the 1924 blue and white flag, from which it can be deduced that the embroideries were transferred to this new flag. However, the coat of arms was transferred without the royal crown, inscribing it in a tondo with vegetal decoration as a waxy seal.

Obverse of the blue and white flag of Pamplona, ca. 1923-1930. AMP 000.139 Photo: José Luis Larrión.

Meaning, use and function of the flag 

The banner was the ultimate expression of Pamplona's collective identity, so its presence in public functions until well into the 20th century was usually limited to the Corpus Christi and San Fermin processions. The Privilege of the Union considered the flag as valuable as the privileges and seals of the city with which it had to be kept in the three-keyed ark. For this reason, the flag of Pamplona was given the highest honors: it used to be blessed and occupied the first place of the corporation when it paraded in the City Corps, because as the Regiment said in 1710 "the flag by its representation always carries the preeminence". This preeminence was also shown in the obeisance made by the banners of the guilds to that of the city on the return of the Corpus Christi and San Fermin processions. Likewise, the city council, as the embodiment of Pamplona, did not allow the standard bearer to be someone outside the municipal corporation, from among whose members he was chosen in an act considered "the most honorable and most esteemed". 

Reverse of the blue and white flag of Pamplona, ca. 1923-1930. AMP 000.139 Photo: José Luis Larrión.

Bibliography:

ANDUEZA PÉREZ, A., "La pieza del mes de septiembre de 2022 Bandera del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona", Pamplona, Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro. University of Navarra, 2022.
ARANDA RUIZ, A., "La Ciudad como imagen de la ciudad: símbolos y ceremonial de una comunidad humana y política", in PAVÓN BENITO, J., HUESO PÉREZ, A. and CORPAS MAULEÓN, J.R. (coords.), 1423, el Privilegio de la Unión: un año, una ciudad, un reino, Pamplona, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, 2023, pp. 284-200.
ARANDA RUIZ, A., Vestir la autoridad. Attributes of power and municipal representation in Navarre, Pamplona, Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro. University of Navarra, 2021.
ARANDA RUIZ, A., Pampilona urbs regia. El ceremonial del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona desde el siglo XVI a nuestros días, Pamplona, Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, 2020.
MARTINENA RUIZ, J. J., "El ritual cívico-religioso del municipio: Pamplona", in MARTÍN DUQUE, A. (dir.), Signos de identidad histórica para Navarra, t. II, Pamplona, Caja de Ahorros de Navarra, 1996, pp. 105-120.
REDÍN FLAMARIQUE, V., Usos y costumbres del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Pamplona, Pamplona City Council, 1987.