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El Viso del Alcor (Seville Province, Andalusia, Spain)

image by Ivan Sache, 29 Aug 2007

Introduction
Description
Former Flag
Coat of Arms

See also:

Introduction

The municipality of El Viso del Alcor (16,597 inhabitants; 20 sq. km) is located 28 km south-east of Sevilla, on the hillside of the cordillera of the Los Alcores, dominating the left bank of the Guadalquivir.

Made of fertile, well-watered sedimentary soil, the small municipal territory of El Viso was already settled in the Paleolithic and in the Neolithic. In the first millenium BC, the Punics built there towers to protect the fields and the roads, where people could take shelter in case of danger. After the conquest, the Hispano-Romans built there villas (estates). They were succeeded in the IV-Vth centuries by the Visigoths, who were themselves expelled by the Muslims. Accordingly, the first permanent settlers of El Viso were of Berber origin. During the siege of Sevilla by the Christians (1246-1248), the region of Los Alcores were plundered, and they still suffer from the deforestation made at that time. El Viso was reconquered on 12 August 1246. At the end of the XIIIth century, the area was resettled, mostly in the villages of Carmona and Mairena, while El Viso was reduced to a small farm.

In the first half of the XIVth century, however, the colonists from Carmona decided to resettle El Viso since Mairena was deemed to small. El Viso had then several successive lords, until King Juan II granted the domain in 1430/1440 to his loyal vassal in the Grenada War, Don Juan Arias de Saavedra. Via his "Ordenanzas municipales," Don Juan secured the territory of El Viso and set up a municipal administration, the "Concejo o Ayuntamiento de El Viso." From the XIVth to the XVIIIth century, El Viso mostly lived from agriculture, producing olives, wine and grains. Trade was boosted in the XVIIIth century by the building of the Madrid-Cádiz road. Religion was very important and the villagers founded several brotherhoods and set up various festivals. A market and a slaughterhouse were founded at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries, while a rural middle-class emerged, building "palaces."

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 29 Aug 2007

Description

The flag of El Viso del Alcor was approved by the Municipal Council on 26 June 2007 and submitted on 27 June 2007 to the General Directorate of Local Administration, which confirmed it by Decree on 9 July 2007, published in the Andalusian official gazette (Boletín Oficial de la Junta de Andalucía, BOJA) No. 146 on 25 July 2007.

The relevant parts of the Decree are the following:

Flag made of three horizontal stripes, blue, white, and blue, with a relation of 3/2 between its maximum and minimum dimensions, the inner and outer dimensions matching the proportions and standards accepted for the flags of Andalusia and Spain. On the white central stripe, skewed to the hoist, is the coat of arms of the town

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. 146, p. 40, 25 July 2007 [PDF]

Ivan Sache, 07 Jul 2009

According to a report published in the electronic journal "ElViso.net" on 4 July 2007, based on information given by the PR department of the municipal administration, El Viso del Alcor has been using "for centuries" a flag horizontally divided blue-white-blue. The municipal administration has decided to officialize this flag. The colours of the flag recall the local devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as does the Ave Maria on a blue field shown on the coat of arms. The patron saint of the town is St. Mary of the Alcor; every September, the streets and squares of the town are decorated in "patron blue" to celebrate the patron saint's festival. In early July 2007, the municipal council started the process of official recognition of the flag.

Graphic description of the flag of El Viso del Alcor: The flag shall be made of three horizontal stripes: blue, white and blue, of the same height. On the central white stripe shall be placed the coat of arms of the town. The blue colour shall be Pantone 294c. The flag shall be in proportion 2:3. The size of the flag shall be adjusted to the accepted size of the flag of Spain and andalucia. The flag of El Viso shall be hoisted in places where the law authorizes the hoisting of the flags of Spain and Andalucia, and shall never be bigger than those two flags.

Use of the flag of El Viso del Alcor: The use of the flag shall be a privilege of the municipality, which might prohibit any use considered as derogative The flag shall be used either outdoors or indoors, with a fabric and a printing respecting its features and the shades of both the stripes and the coat of arms. The flag shall not be used on any unsuitable support or format. The offences to the flag and the resutling penalties shall be established by a Regulation.

Sources: Municipal website, ElViso.net, 04 Jul 2007

Ivan Sache, 29 Aug 2007

Former Flag

image by Ivan Sache, 07 Jul 2009

Wikipedia shows the traditional flag of El Viso del Alcor, without the coat of arms, and now obsolete.

Ivan Sache, 07 Jul 2009

Coat of Arms

The municipal website says that the coat of arms of El Viso del Alcor was approved in 1975 as "per pale azure an Ave Maria or gules a Cross of Mercy argent, the shield surmonted by a Royal crown". This coat of arms superseded a former one "with the Ave Maria", which, itself, had superseded the coat of arms of the lords of the town.

The "Ave Maria" is a medieval design made of the superposed letters M and A, the abbreviation of M(ari)A. The name "Ave Maria" was given to the design in the XVIII-XIXth centuries.

Source: Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 29 Aug 2007