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Municipality of Alfacar (Granada Province, Andalusia, Spain)

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image by Ivan Sache after Granapedia, credited to the Municipal Administration of Alfacar, 08 Jul 2009
N.B.: Reconstructed image, no original seen

Introduction
Description

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of Alfacar (5,401 inhabitants in 2008; 1,673 ha) is located in the Granada Plain, 20 km north of the provincial capital. The quality of its waters, known for ages, has made of Alfacar the local capital of bakery.

Alfacar has a clear Moorish origin. The name of the village was often, erroneously reported as "Alfaar," Alfanar," "Alfakar," 'Alfajar," but all these names have the same meaning, "the potters' mount [or estate]," highlighting the past significance of pottery in the village. Mentioned for the first time at the Zirid period (1010-1090), the village was probably built in the 10th century. In the 11th century, an aquaduct brought the famous water of Alfacar, collected in the "Fuente Grande" (Big Fountain), to Granada, while the Zirid rulers enjoyed staying in their estates at Alfacar for the festivals, as did the nobles from Granada. There is no remain from the palaces, towers and fortresses described by the chroniclers of the time, but the toponym "La Casa del Baño" (The Bath's House) recalls the Muslim ritual bath. The village, split into Upper- (Alto) and Lower (Bajo) Alfacar, had then nearly 1,000 inhabitants and 250 houses. Alfaca, described in the 14th-15th centuries, for instance by Ibn Batuta, as a place of leisure, was indeed the scene of the last events of the reconquest of Granada by the Christian Kings. On 22 December 1492, the Nasrid inhabitants of Alfaqar surrendered; the "Alfaquar surrenders," signed by Mohamad Alfoaty and Yuca Mocatil, Mayors of the "Towers" of Alfaqar, was the end of the last focus of resistance. The next days, the towers and the Chrsitian prisoners were transferred to the King's envoy, Hernando de Zafra. No violent event occurred in the village during the Alpujarra Wars, which did not prevented the local Moriscos to be expelled by Philip II in 1570, the village being subsequently resettled by christian colonists from all over Spain.

The poet Federico García Lorca was most probably murdered in Alfacar on 18 August 1936. A memorial park was built near the putative place of the event by the municipality in 1986.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 09 Jul 2009

Description

The flag and arms of Alfacar were approved by the Municipal Council on 29 June 2006 and submitted on 4 July 2006 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed them by Decree on 25 July 2006, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 150 on 4 August 2006.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Coat of arms: Shield divided per fess the upper half divided per pale. 1. Gules a castle or creneled and masoned sable with three towers port and windows azure surmounted by a feather or. 2. Vert a bread or. 3. Or an olive tree proper flanked by four pines of the same, two on each side, in base per fess wavy azure and argent. The shield surmounted by a Spanish Royal crown closed.

Flag: Rectangular flag in proportions 2:3, made of a green panel with a white stripe descending from the upper corner of the hoist to the lower corner of the fly, 1/6 the hoist of the flag. All over in the middle 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 apprended to the Decree).

Source: BOJA No. 150, pp. 44-45, 04 Aug 2006

Ivan Sache, 09 Jul 2009