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Municipality of Benalúa de las Villas (Granada Province, Andalusia, Spain)

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image by Wikipedia User:Nethunter, 12 Jul 2009

Introduction
Description

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Benalúa de las Villas (1,461 inhabitants in 2008; 2,100 ha) is located 35 km north of Granada.

Benalúa de las Villas, located between Granada and Jaén, was a strategic place during the Moorish times; reconquerred by the Christians in 1486, it was the place of several skirmishes until the eventual suppression of the Kingdom of Granada in 1492. Granted the title of "villa," Benalúa was transfered to Commander Fernán Sancho del Cañaveral, who founded the Municipality of Benalúa, subsequently upgraded to a County.

The most famous Count of Benalúa was Julio Quesada Cañaveral y Piédrola, Duke of San Pedro Galatino (1858-1936), a politician (Senator, 1901-1904) and industrial. Pioneer of sugar industry in Andalusia, the Duke invented tourism in Granada in the late 19th - early 20th century; he commissioned the engineer Juan Santa Cruz to build modern hotels (Hotel Alhambra Palace, the first modern hotel in Granada, inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII; Hotel del Duque, the first modern hotel in the Sierra Nevada), the Sierra Nevada highway (for long the highest paved road in Europe) and the Sierra Nevada tramline (linking Granada to Hotel del Duque).

Sources: Granada Tourism website; Hotel Alhambra Palace website

Ivan Sache, 12 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and arms of Benalúa de las Villas were approved by the Municipal Council on 31 January 2006 and submitted on 3 February 2006 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 16 February 2006, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 46 on 9 March 2006.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Argent an olive tree eradicated vert surrounded by two arrows gules. The chief serrated vert. The base per fess wavy azure. The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.

Flag: Rectangular flag in proportions 2:3, made of four horizontal stripes, the two upper serrated by four triangles, in proportions 1/2, 2/9, 1/18 and 2/9, the upper white with three green uprooted olive trees and the other red, white and blue.

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 apprended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA No. 46, p. 40, 09 Mar 2006

Reporting the official presentation of the municipal symbols, "Ideal Digital" gives the symbolism of the flag as follows: - the olive tree represents local agriculture; - the serration represents the local topography, especially the Montes Orientales; - the blue stripe represents the river de las Juntas, which waters the municipality and flows into the marshes of Colomera.

Source: "Ideal Digital," 11 Mar 2006

Ivan Sache, 12 Jul 2009