El emblema de la organización colegial Veterinaria española: Una aproximación desde la óptica de la iconografía profana

Abstract

The Spanish Veterinary College Organization (OCVE), in accordance with its statutes, has a visualdistinctive feature that serves as its recognition, the emblem, which is described in the current statutes,published this year 2024, as follows: a) A background field with some mounds behind which appears thedisk of the rising sun, around which the inscription "Hygia Pecoris, Salus Populi" is displayed. b) In frontof this motif there are two sheep in the middle of which is placed the Maltese Cross. c) All of this will besurrounded by two arched branches converging from bottom to top, of laurel leaves. These elementshave hardly changed since the first statutes of 1970 and have changed very little with respect to what isconsidered its antecedent, the shield of the uniform of the Animal Hygiene Inspectors. Perhaps for thisreason, the symbolism of the elements that make up the emblem has been very little studied, eventhough it is well known that when images are studied iconographically, contextualizing them, theconclusions that can be reached are often deeper and more enriching. This presentation reviews themeaning of the different elements mentioned above: field, mound, rising sun, inscription, sheep, Maltesecross and branches of leaves, as well as numbers, and suggests some interpretations different from thosethat have been usual until now.