Last modified: 2016-04-25 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-mu-pg.gif)
Flag of Pliego - Image by Ivan Sache, 9 May 2015
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The municipality of Pliego (3,937 inhabitants in 2014; 2,900 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of the Region of Murcia, 35 km of Murcia.
Pliego was named, according to the Historian José Pascual Martínez (La Villa de Pliego en la Edad Moderna), for the Roman word pagus, "a borough", transliterated to Arab as baguh. In the Middle Ages, the place was known as Pego or Priego. The name of Pliego was fixed in the 15th century.
Pliego was settled in the 12th century by the Moors, who established
the fort of La Mota. At the end of the 12th century, they erected the
castle of Pliego on a hill dominating the town. After the
incorporation of Pliego to Castile in 1243, a Castilian garrison
settled the castle, watching the Mudéjars. After the suppression of
the Mudéjar uprising in 1266, the fortress of La Mota was demolished
and the population was transferred to the Mudéjar borough, a small
group of houses built on the edge of the La Mota ravine, and the
direct origin of today's Pliego.
Pliego was granted in the 14th century to the Order of St. James,
which reorganized the town.
Pliego is the birth town of the writer and politician Federico Balart (1831-1905). Balart published critics in the newspapers Verda (signed "Nadie") and La Democracia (signed "Cualquiera"). In 1870, he was appointed Vice Secretary of the Ministry of Government, and, subsequently, State Councillor; appointed Representative of Granada at the Cortes in 1872, he was Senator of Castellón de la Plana in 1872-1873. After the death of his wife in 1879, Balart retired from political life and worked as an accountant at the Bank of Spain. Back to writing, he published short critics works, such as El prosaísmo en el Arte and Novedades de antaño, and his masterpiece, Dolores (1894). Balart served also as the Artistic Director of the Teatro Español.
Ivan Sache, 9 May 2015
The symbols of Pliego (municipal website), designed by Luís Lisón Hernández, were unveiled
on 3 November 2008.
The flag (photo) is white with a green border. In canton is placed a Cross of
St. James surrounded by three yellow castles.
The coat of arms is "Argent in chief a Cross of St. James gules
surrounded by two towers or in base a tower or standing on waves azure
surrounded dexter by a dagger sable sinister by a key of the same. The
shield surrounded by folds [pliegues]. The shield surmounted by a
Royal crown closed.
These arms are based on the old arms of the town, shown on the facade
of the Town Hall: "Argent in chief a castle or surrounded dexter by a
Cross of St. James gules and sinister by a dagger sable in base a key
sable surrounded by two towers or. The shield surmounted by a Royal
crown closed." These arms were used until 2006.
Ivan Sache, 9 May 2015