This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Alcuéscar (Municipality, Extremadura, Spain)

Last modified: 2020-11-06 by ivan sache
Keywords: alcuéscar |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



[Flag]

Flag of Alcuéscar - Image by Tomislav Todorović, 19 March 2020


See also:


Presentation of Alcuéscar

The municipality of Alcuéscar (2,727 inhabitants in 2016, 10,893 ha; municipal website) is located 40 km south-east of Cáceres and 30 km of Mérida.

Alcuéscar must have been a significant settlement in the Visigoth period, as evidenced by the St. Lucia del Trampal basilica.
Like the neighbouring towns, Alcuéscar emerged around a fortification. The village was established in 830 during the rebellion of the Mozarabes of Mérida.
Alcuéscar, reconquered by the Christians in 1230, was incorporated to Montánchez in 1236. The municipality of Alcuéscar was eventually established in 1602.

Ivan Sache, 19 March 2020


Flag of Alcuéscar

The flag (photo, photo, photo) and arms of Alcuéscar, adopted on 29 July 1996 and 11 March 1993 by the Municipal Council and validated on 9 July and 13 December 1996 by the Assessing Council of Honors and Distinctions of the Government of Extremadura, are prescribed by an Order issued on 2 September 1997 by the Government of Extremadura and published on 23 September 1997 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 111, pp. 6,939-6,940 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, grafted at hoist chequy blue and white. The rest of the panel horizontally divided yellow (top) and red (bottom), with the municipal coat of arms in full colors in the center.
Coat of arms: Grafted in chief, 1. Chequy azure and argent two standards gules and a helf moon of the same, 2. Gules the St. Lucia del Trampal basilica or. A bordure argent five crosses of St. James gules. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The St. Lucia del Trampal basilica was erected in the second third of the 7th century near the Trampal source, located 5 km from the village's center. The sanctuary is considered as one of the best examples of the Hispano-Visigoth, pre-Romanesque architecture in Spain, and the last standing Visigoth sanctuary in southern Spain.
The church was part of a Mozarab monastery abandoned around 850. In the Gothic period, a new monastery took over the estate and revamped the church, which was dedicated to St. Lucy, whose cult was introduced in Spain in the 11th century. The monastery was suppressed during the War of Independence, while the church was used as a strategic fortress during the battle of Arroyomolinos (1811). Close to complete ruination, the basilica was rediscovered in 1980 by archeologists and architects who restored it.
[municipal website]

Until 1997, Alcuéscar used its historical coat of arms, "Quarterly, 1. Or a Cross of Calatrava, 2. Or a star argent fimbriated or surmounted by a crescent argent pointing downwards, 3. Or a holly oak standing on rocks all proper, 4. Or a Cross of St. James". The new coat of arms was deemed more representative of the town.
[Unofficial website]

Ivan Sache, 19 March 2020