Last modified: 2009-11-21 by eugene ipavec
Keywords: gorafe | sun (gold) | dolmen (red) | crown: royal (closed) | caves: 3 (black) |
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The municipality of Gorafe (501 inhabitants in 2008; 7,714 ha) is located 90 km north-east of Granada.
Gorafe is famous for the 198 dolmens grouped in 10 necropoles located in the valley of Gor, that is the biggest concentration of dolmens in Europe; the monuments are collective tombs characteristic of the megalithic culture of the Middle Neolithic (6000 BC). After having conquered the region in 711, the Moors built cave dwellings, for instant the Almohad settlement of Los Algarves (12th century). The name of the village indeed comes from Arabic "Gaurab," "High Dwelling." A part of the population of the village still lives in such cave houses. In 1451, the Catholic Kings appointed the first lord of Gorafe, Alvaro de Bazán y Quiñones. After 1600, the increase in cultivated areas boosted the development of the village. Today, Gorafe is a small village living from agriculture, tourism and esparto handcraft.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 04 Jul 2009
The flag and arms of Gorafe were approved by the Municipal Council on 18 September 2007 and submitted on 28 September 2008 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 11 October 2007, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 210 on 24 October 2007.
The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:
Coat of arms: Shield divided per fess.
1.Vert a sun radiating or.
2. Or three caves sable. Overall an escutcheon argent bordered gules and charged with a dolmen of the same.
The shield surmounted with a Royal crown closed.Flag: Rectangular panel in proportions 2:3, made of two equal vertical stripes, green at hoist and yellow at fly [the colours of the arms]. In the middle a white shield with a red dolmen and a red border [the escutcheon from the 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 apprended to the Decree).
Source: BOJA No. 210, pp. 31-32, 24 Oct 2007
Ivan Sache, 04 Jul 2009