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Albolote (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Albolote - Image from the Símbolos de Granada website, 19 April 2014

Presentation of Albolote
Symbols of Albolote

See also:

Presentation of Albolote

The municipality of Albolote (18,082 inhabitants in 2013; 7,806 ha; municipal website) is located 10 km north-west of Granada. The municipality is made of two main urban nuclei, Albolote and El Chaparrla, and of the settlements of Pantano Cubillas, Cortijo del Aire, Loma Verde, Villas Blancas, Pretel, Torreón, Montelvira and Casería de Buenavista.

Albolota is named for the Arab word al-bollut, "a holly oak". The town was established by the Moors as part of the alquería (domain) of El Tinar within the cora (province) of Elvira. The chronicler who described the village mentions the presence of a mosque, which indicates a settlement of significance.
The battle of La Higueruela was fought on 1 June 1431 on the municipal territory of Albolote. Led by King of Castile John II and his favorite, Álvaro de Luna, the Christian troops invaded the Granada plain from the flanks of the Parapanda range and defeated the Nasrid Moors.
In the 17th century, Philip IV transferred Albolote to Alvarez de Bohórquez, 1st Marquis of Los Trujillos. In 1802, Nicolás Mauricio Alvarez de Bohórquez was made Duke of Gor and Grandee of Spain (1st rank) by Charles IV.

Albolote is the home town of the Olympic biathlet Victoria Padial Hernández (b. 1988; website; photo with the municipal flag)). In 2010 (Vancouver), she was the first Spanish female Olympist in biathlon ever, finishing 87th in the sprint and 86th in the individual; her perfomance singificantly improved in Sochi (2014), where she finished 52nd in the sprint and 54th in the individual. She also won two silver medals (sprint and pursuit) in the 2014 Biathlon European Championships (Novo Mesto).

Ivan Sache, 19 April 2014

Symbols of Albolote

The flag of Albolote (photo, photo, photo), adopted on 27 January 1999 by the Municipal Council and approved on 21 December 2000 by the Royal Academy of Córdoba, is prescribed by Decree No. 19, adopted on 30 January 2001 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 24 February 2001 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 23, pp. 3,158-3,159 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, made of a white triangle charged with a green holly oak, with vertices in the extreme points of the hoist and the midpoint of the fly, the upper triangle red and the lower triangle green.

The flag was designed by Tomas Rodríguez Peñas and Vicente Tocino Letrado [General By-Laws of Etiquette and Ceremonial (text), Article 1].

The municipality also uses a benner (pendón), made of a square red flag with a golden border and the municipal coat of arms embroidered in the center, set with gems. The banner shall be used in specific instances requiring ist presence, where it will be carried by a designed member of the Municipal Council.
[General By-Laws of Etiquette and Ceremonial (text), Article 5]

The coat of arms of Albolote is prescribed by Decree No. 3,445, adopted on 12 December 1974 by the Spanish Government and published on 28 December 1974 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 311, p. 26,365 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text).
The coat of arms, approved by the Royal Academy of History, is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Gules a fig tree proper surrounded dexter and sinister by two riders armed for the battle, the one Moorish and the other Christian, all argent. A bordure vert charged with eight acorns or, 2. Gules a bend or engulfed by two dragon's heads of the same langued gules A bordure azure charged with two fleurs-de-lis [or], the one in chief and the other in base and cantonned in chief dexter and sinister with two columns argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown.

The coat of arms was designed by Vivente González Barbeá𡵞 (supporting memoir dated 10 September 1973).
The figtree (higuera) and the riders symbolize the battle of La Higueruela. The acorns recall the Arab origin of the town's name; they also represent the agricultural resources and the pacific and ordinary life in the town. The lower quarter of the shield refers to the lineage of Álvarez Bohórquez,once lords of Albolote.
The Royal crown is indeed a Ducal coronet, recalling that the lords of Albolote wer also Dukes of Gor.
[General By-Laws of Etiquette and Ceremonial (text), Article 2]

Ivan Sache, 19 April 2014