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Puentes Viejas (Municipality, Madrid Community, Spain)

Last modified: 2016-06-04 by ivan sache
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Flag of Puentes Viejas - Image by Ivan Sache, 21 July 2015


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Presentation of Puentes Viejas

The municipality of Puentes Viejas (639 inhabitants in 2012; 5,810 ha; municipal website) is located in the north of the Madrid Community, 75 km from Madrid.
The municipality was established by the Decree-Law of 24 July 1975, which merged the former municipalities of Mangirón (municipal seat; 372 inh.; 2,866 ha, including Cinco Villas, 47 inh., since 1833), Serrada de la Fuente (90 inh.; 1,040 ha) and Paredes de Buitrago (130 inh.; 1,904 ha).
The municipality is named for the Puentes Viejas dam, located on the middle course of river Lozoya. The name of the dam, lit. Old Bridges, refers to the two raw bridges once used to cross the river.

The villages forming Puentes Viejas all belonged to the Community of the Land and Town of Buitrago, depending on Guadalajara and owned since the 14th century by the Mendoza, Dukes of the Infantado.
Mangirón is named for an Arabic word meaning "big head", referring to the rock (1,012 m asl) dominating the village. Cinco Villas is named for five (cinco) shepherd's hut that originally formed the village. Serrada de la Fuente is named for the location of the first houses of the village, on a gorge surrounded by the mountains of the Mujer Muerta (Death Woman) range. Paredes de Buitrago is named for a wall (pared) or a cattle enclosure older than the Spanish village.

Ivan Sache, 24 May 2013


Symbols of Puentes Viejas

The flag and arms of Puentes Viejas are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 16 May 2013 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 6 June 2013 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 133, pp. 48-49 (text) and on 7 June 2013 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 136, pp. 43,390-43,391 (text).
The symbols, originally adopted on 25 January 2012 by the Municipal Council, were validated by the Heraldry Assessors (Royal Academy "Matritense" of Heraldry and Genealogy; the Royal Academy of History recommended modifications, which were implemented on 30 May 2012 by the Municipal Council.
The symbols are described as follows;

Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3. A blue panel, charged in the middle with the municipal coat of arms, surrounded by five golden-yellow five-pointed stars, placed at 1/5 of the hoist and fly and at 1/5 of the upper and lower edges of the flag.
Coat of arms: Vert a four-arched bridge masoned sable on waves argent and azure. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown.

The minutes of the Municipal Council, 30 May 2012 (text), relates that the amended symbols were adopted by four Councillors, while another two abstained from voting. The memoir supporting the proposed symbols is credited to María Teresa Ramos. The original description of the flag says that the diameter of the stars shall be 1/8 of the hoist. The center of the upper and lower stars shall be distant of 1/5 of the hoist from the respective borders of the flag. The left stars shall be distant of 3/5 of the flag's length from the right stars.

Ivan Sache, 21 July 2015