Last modified: 2019-09-16 by ivan sache
Keywords: alcolea de calatrava |
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The municipality of Alcolea de Calatrava (1,455 inhabitants in 2018; 7,079 ha; municipal website is located 25 km east of Ciudad Real.
Alcolea is located in an area that experienced intense volcanic activity
between 1 and 4 million year BP. Volcanic remains in Alcolea include:
- the Peñarroya volcano (812 m; shared with the municipality of Corral
de Calatrava), registered as a Nature Monument by Decree No. 176, issued
on 5 December 2000 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published
on 28 December 2000 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No.
130, pp. 12,514-12,518 (text; the Decree includes a complete description of the site);
- the Zahurdones crater, mostly erased by erosion;
- the Cerro de la Cruz volcano, whose crater was oddly shaped by lava
extraction;
- the Peñas del Bú lake;
- the Las Higueruelas caldera;
- the La Posadilla / Fuentillejo lake;
- the Alcolea / Las Maestras lake.
Alcolea de Calatrava was probably settled by the Celtiberians, as hinted
by the toponyms Humbría de la Sala and Dehesa de la Motilla; the two
sites, however, have not been excavated yet. The village was,
undoubtedly, established during the Muslim rule, as evidenced by its
name, meaning "a small castle" in Arab.
After the Christian reconquest, Alcolea was incorporated to the domain
of Benavente, ruled by the Order of Calatrava. It was the seat of a
commandery of the order, deemed little profitable.
The paleontologic site of Las Higueruelas, discovered in 1935, excavated in 1971 by E. Bore y E. Aguirre and since 1984 by Ana Victoria Mazo, Head of the Museum of Life Sciences in Madrid, has yielded one of the most important collection of animal remains from the Tertiary Era in Europe, exhibited now in the Ciudad Real Provincial Museum. The area was then warm and wet, composed of several lakes and woods with a profuse vegetation. The fauna living there was very diverse: mastodonts, rhinoceros, horses, gazelles, dears, birds, and tortoises.
Ivan Sache, 7 May 2019
The flag of Alcolea de Calatrava is prescribed by an Order issued on 18
February 2004 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 1
March 2004 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 29, p. 3,328 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, vertically divided in three parts, the central, twice longer as the other and white, the lateral, red. In the center the coat of arms of the place.
The coat of arms of Alcolea de Calatrava is prescribed by Decree No. 58,
issued on 10 May 1988 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and
published on 17 May 1988 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha,
No. 20, p. 1,113 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Gules a castle or masoned sable port and windows azure on a base vert ensigned by a banner of the Order of Calatrava, white, charged with a cross flory gules representing this militia. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The Royal Academy of History validated "without any objection" the
proposed arms, which were originally approved by the municipality in 1984.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia 185:2, 401-402. 1988]
The arms were originally proposed by Ramón José Maldonado y
Cocat on 20 February 1966. The field gules recalls the castle's reconquest required
shedding blood.
[Ramón José Maldonado y Cocat. 1973. Heráldica municipal de la provincia de
Ciudad Real. Cuadernos de Estudios Manchegos 4, 84-109]
Ivan Sache, 7 May 2019