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Municipality of Tíjola (Almería Province, Andalusia, Spain)

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image by Wikipedia Users:Nethunter and MiguelAngel fotografo, 25 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Tíjola (3,961 inhabitants in 2008; 6,724 ha) is located in the upper valley of river Almanzora, 100 km north of Almería.

A Neolithic idol, found on the municipality of Tíjola by the parish priest Miguel Bolea y Sintas, is exhibited by the National Archeological Museum of Madrid. The French paleontologist Henri Breuil described the idol in his record of the "schematic" rock paintings of the Iberic Peninsula ("Las pinturas rupestres esquemáticas de la Península Ibérica," 1934) as follows: "Tíjola dolmen (Almería), soapstone plane statuette, 15 cm in height, the rectangular head supported by a wide neck placed on angulous shoulders, from which hang two wide arms parallel to the body, a relatively small bust with a cloth progressively increasing down to the missing feet.

The Carthaginians founded here a significant settlement to exploit copper and iron, which was subesquently superseded by a Roman town, of which three villae from the imperial period have been excavated; in 1977, a marble stone with writing confirmed the name of the Roman town as Tagili ("republica tagilitana"). After the Moorish conquest, Abderramán I built the fortress of Tachola (8th century); in the 10th century, Abderramán III built a fortified town known as Tájela and represented on the maps of the Kingdom of Granada as Texora. During the reconquest by the Catholic Kings (1489-1492), the town was known as Tixola.

Tíjola is the birth town of the sopranist Fidela Campiña Ontiveros (1894-1983). She started her career in 1913 in the Royal Theater of Madrid as Margarita in Boito's "Mefistofeles" and became one of the most famous Spanish opera singer of the 20th century. She was acclaimed at the New York Metropolitan (Verdi's "Otello," 1926) and at the Milan Scala (Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" and Mascagni's "Nero," 1934). She performed for the last time on stage at Trieste in 1946 in Wagner's "Götterdämmerung." The local tradition says that Fidela Campiña, when singing at the entrance of the Blessed Virgin's Hermitage, could be heard up to the opposed side of the village.

Sources: Municipal website, including several detailed articles; Biography of Fidela Campiña Ontiveros; video of Fidela Campiña Ontiveros

Ivan Sache, 25 Jul 2009

Description

The flag of Tíjola was approved by the Municipal Council and submitted on 26 October 2004 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed it by Decree on 2 February 2005, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 34 on 17 February 2005.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Flag: Rectangular panel in proportions 11 x 18, divided in three equal parallel stripes perpendicular to the hoist, the first blue, the second golden yellow, and the third green. The first and the third stripes have a height of 2/7 the hoist, the third of 3/7. Centered and all over, the municipal coat of arms.

The symbols should be registered on the Andalusian Register of Local Entities, with their official written description and graphics (as originally submitted, but unfortunately not appended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA No. 34, pp. 30-31, 17 Feb 2005

Ivan Sache, 25 Jul 2009

Coat of Arms

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image by Wikipedia Users:Nethunter and MiguelAngel fotografo, 25 Jul 2009

The coat of arms of Tíjola is described in "Boletín Informativo y Cultural de Tíjol," No 14, April 1986. Approved by the Municipal Council on 22 February 1986, the coat of arms was designed by the heraldist and genealogist José Antonio Delgado Orellana. Nothing about an ancient coat of arms of Tíjola was found in the National Archives, therefore it was decided to design a brand new coat of arms, based on the following elements: - the town is located in the upper valley of Almanzora, a river that is the main resource for agriculture and the main element of the local landscape; - there are in Tíjola scattered remains of a Prehistoric settlement in the place called "Cerrá," where a castle was subsequently built in the Moorish period; the castle, another characteristic element of the town, was used by the villagers and their neighbours as a shelter during the Alpujarras Wars; - Tíjola was among the "places of river Almenzora and Sierra de los Filabres" that surrendered to the Catholic Kings in 1489, who granted them, by a privilege chart dated 20 June 1492, to Diego López Pacheco, Marquis of Villena and Duke of Escalona; - the town and its castle were included in the Marquisate erected on 13 May 1498 by the Catholic Kings for Diego López Pacheco and kept by his descendants until the abolition of the feudal system by the Courts of Cádiz in 1812.

The description of the coat of arms is: Rectangular shield ending in point by a semi-circle: vert (which is green, recalling the agricultural resources of Tíjola) on waves azure and argent (which is the heraldic representation of river Almanzora) a castle or masoned sable port and windows gules (for the Arabic fortress that was characteristic in the local landscape) flanked in chief by two cauldrons - one on each side - checky or and sable (which was the emblem of the Pacheco family, owner of Tíjola for more than three centuries). In chief a Royal crown closed [long description of the crown omitted]. (This is the proper Royal Spanish crown of the Bourbon House, which the Municipality of Tíjola shall use as an attribute with a dual meaning: on the one hand as a sign of belonging to the Spanish State organized as a Monarchy; and, on the other hand, as a sign of the hierarchic rank of the municipality, which is an official organism with proper jurisdiction).

Source: www.tijola.org

Ivan Sache, 25 Jul 2009