Last modified: 2015-01-17 by ivan sache
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Flag of Villarejo de Órbigo - Image by Antonio Gutiérrez (VexiLeón website), 12 May 2011
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The municipality of Villarejo de Órbigo (3,244 inhabitants in 2010; 3,625 ha; municipal website) is located in the center of León Province, 40 km of León. The municipality is made of the villages of Estébanez de la Calzada, Veguelina de Órbigo, Villarejo de Órbigo (capital) and Villoria de Órbigo.
Villarejo de Órbigo is located in the valley of river Órbigo, already
settled by the Asturs; in the pre-Roman languages, Órbigo probably
meant "two rivers", referring to the confluence of rivers Omaña and
Luna. An Astur bronze sword, found close to the river near Veguelina
de Órbigo, is shown in the National Archeological Museum in Madrid.
After the Roman conquest, the area was settled by several villas, the
remains of one were found in Villoria de Órbigo. The Silver Way, an
old trade and transhumance road, crossed there the road later known as
the Way of St. James.
Following the Christian reconquest, the area was resettled in the
10th-11th centuries, with the emergence of Calzada (915, with a
pilgrim's hostel located on the Way [calzada] of St. James),
Villarejo (1079, as Villarelio), Villoria (1100) and Veguellina
(1260); Estébanez, which eventually absorbed Calzada, deserted,
appeared much later (1575). The Santa María monastery was founded in
1243 in Villario by the Premonstratensians; in 1570, it was refounded
by the Norbertine Mothers, which had another seat in Toro.
Veguellina developed in the late 19th century after the building of a
railway station on the line León-Astorga; two factories produced sugar (1900-1998) and linen (1930-1960s), sugar beet and flax becoming the
most important local crops. Villarejo de Órbigo is also the only place
in Spain with significant hop production.
Ivan Sache, 12 May 2011
The flag ("heraldic symbol") of Villarejo de Órbigo is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 29 September 1995 by the León Provincial Government, signed on 13 October 1995 by the President of the Government, and published on 13 December 1995 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 237 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular flag, with the same proportions as the Spanish flag, light green. In the middle of the flag is placed the municipal coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Villarejo de Órbigo is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 25 February 1994 by the León Provincial Government, signed on the same day by the President of the Government, and published on 17 March 1994 in the official gazette of Castilla y León, No. 53 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Argent a cross gules, 2. Checky of 15 pieces 8 pieces gules and 7 pieces vair argent and azure, grafted in base argent a fess wavy azure. The shield surmounted with a Royal Spanish crown.
The Royal Academy of History approved the proposed arms and flag (Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1996, 193, 1: 189).
Ivan Sache, 12 May 2011