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Castro de Filabres (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Castro de Filabres - Image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 October 2012

Presentation of Castro de Filabres
Symbols of Castro de Filabres

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Presentation of Castro de Filabres

The municipality of Castro de Filabres (160 inhabitants; 2,940 ha; municipal website) is located in the Sierra de los Filabres, 50 km north of Almería.

In the 8th century, a group of Yarawa Berbers, expelled from Almería by the Arabs, set up a camp in the Sierra de los Filabres. Led by Queen al-Kahima, the Yarawas were romanized Christians, therefore the name of the village, from Latin castrum, "a camp". Leaving peacefully until the 12th century, the colonists were sent by King of Aragón Alfonso the Battler to resettle the reconquered valley of Ebro (1125). In the 10th century, the neighbouring village of Velefique welcomed a group of jarichíes, a Muslim sect persecuted in Córdoba. The Sufi saint Sidi Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn al-Hayy, born in Velefique, is said to have built the fortress defending his birth village and 20 mosques all over the Sierra, including in Castro de Filabres.
After the Christian reconquest, Castro de Filabres, together with Olula de Castro and Uleila del Campo, was granted in 1490 to the Duke of the Infantado as a reward for his contribution to the reconquest. One century later, the village belonged to Enrique Enríquez, lord of the "State of Tahal", made of 14 villages, of which only eight were inhabited. A stronghold in the Morisco uprising, Castro de Filabres was resettled by Christian colonists in the late 16th century. Population slightly increased, reaching its peak (426 inhabitants) in the beginning of the 20th century and then constantly decreasing because of emigration to Almería, Catalonia, France and Germany.

Ivan Sache, 1 August 2009

Symbols of Castro de Filabres

The flag and arms of Castro de Filabres, approved on 24 September 2004 by the Municipal Council and submitted the same day to the Directorate General of Local Administration, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 27 October 2004 by the Directorate General of Local Administration and published on 8 November 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 217, p. 25,829 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Panel in proportions 2:3, made of two equal horizontal stripes, the first green and the second yellow; overall, a fess wavy with proportions 1:7, countercoloured.
Coat of arms: Azure a mount vert with three peaks surmounted by a Roman stockade, with its watching tower, or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The Roman fortifications allude to the Roman origin and name of the settlement. The mountains and the blue background recall the geographical location of the place, mostly situated in the Sierra de Filabres.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Almería (PDF file)]

Ivan Sache, 12 July 2009