The Great Seal of the State of West Virginia was adopted in September 1863.

[1] The obverse center of the seal contains a boulder that has been inscribed June 20, 1863, the date West Virginia became a state.

[2] The Latin phrase Montani Semper Liberi (English: "Mountaineers are Always Free") was adopted as the official state motto of West Virginia in Article II, Section 2-7, of the state constitution signed in 1872.

[3] The phrase was suggested as the motto by Joseph H. Diss Debar, the artist who created the state's Great Seal.

Montani Semper Liberi is also part of the coat of arms for the Colombian city of Bucaramanga.