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Almuñécar (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Almuñécar - Image from the Símbolos de Granada website, 20 April 2014

Presentation of Almuñécar
Symbols of Almuñécar

See also:

Presentation of Almuñécar

The municipality of Almuñécar (25,586 inhabitants in 2013; 8,336 ha; municipal website) is located on the Tropical Coast of the Province of Granada, on the border with the Province of Málaga, 85 km south of Granada.

Almuñécar was originally settled in 1500 BC by populations established on the hills surrounding the today's town. In the 8th century BC, the inhabitants mostly moved to the hill where the old town would be subsequently built. Phoenicians colonists from Tyre settled on the shore at the same period; the colony increased and progressively moved uphill, watching the two eastern and western ports, each of them being used according to the wind direction. The Laurita necropolis was established on the San Cristóbal hill at the end of the 8th century; excavations have yielded Egyptian stone and albaster vases, Greek vases and Phoenician pottery pieces, as well as first quality jewels. Another necropolis has been found in the Puente de Noy hill, made of 200 tombs dated from the Laurita period to the Romanization (1st century). At the end of the 3rd century BC, the Romans colonized a well-structured settlement, which became in 46 BC the Roman municipality of Sexi Firmum Julium. The town, which minted its own coins and was supplied in freshwater by a 7 km-long aqueduct, peaked in the 1st-2nd century. Remains of columbariums and family pantheons have been found in the two villae of Columbario de la Torre del Monje and Columbario la Albina.

Almuñécar was probably incorporated to the Kingdom of Granada short after the landing of Abd al-Rahman I on 15 August 755. The fortress of Almuñécar was famous for its "horrible underground dungeon", where overthrown kings, disgraced ministers and unsuccesful warlords were jailed. Almuñécar was conquered in 1489, when Qadi Al-Hay surrendered without fightings to the Catholic Monarchs. After the fall of Granada, Muhammed XIII el Zagal (King of Granada in 1485-1486), Boabdil (the last King of Granada) and some 1,130 people embarked to North Africa in the port of Almuñécar.

Ivan Sache, 20 April 2014

Symbols of Almuñécar

The flag of Almuñécar (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo) is horizontally divided celestial blue - sea blue, with the municipal coat of arms in the center.
The coat of arms of Almuñécar is "Azure a wooden ship with a triangular sail argent over waves argent and azure charged with three Moor's heads 1 and 2 and three stains gules. The shield surmounted by a mural crown".
The arms are said to have been granted in 1526 by Charles I after the inhabitants of the town had repelled an assault by Barbarian pirates. Neither the flag nor the arms are officially prescribed. Neither the flag nor the coat of arms are officially registered.
[Símbolos de Granada website]

Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 May 2014