Last modified: 2014-03-23 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Vilches (5,005 inhabitants in 2007; 27,400 ha; municipal website) is located 80 km north-east of Jaén.
The natural monument "El Piélago", registered on 1 October 2001, is located on the municipal territories of Vilches and Linares. It includes the Roman bridge of Vadollano, once part of the Via Augusta linking Rome to Gadés (Cádiz). Downstream from the bridge, river Guarrizos flows into a deep granitic gorge with a series of small cascades.
Ivan Sache, 29 June 2009
The flag and arms of Vilches, adopted on 24 March 2009 by the Municipal Council and submitted the same day to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 24 April 2009 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 8 May 2009 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 87, p. 65 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Tafetta flag, quadrangular, the lower corners rounded off, with an heraldic design based on triangular shapes, which, grouped by four, form diamond-shaped elements, coloured in turn gules (or, red), azure (or, blue), vert (or, green) and white, without contiguous triangles of the same colour. Diagonally divided in four fields by a saltire azure (a particular cross made of the superimposing of a bend and a bend sinister); the bend charged with four Crosses of Calatrava, two or (or, yellow) and two gules (or, red) and at the ends two lions rampant or; the bend sinister charged with four Crosses of Calatrava gules and two lions rampant or at the ends.
Coat of arms: Quarterly. In the first quarter: Gules (or, red), a castle or, creneled, ports and windows azure (or, blue) masoned sable (or, black). Per pale argent a lion rampant purpure langued and armed gules (or, red) and crowned or. In the second quarter: Or four pallets gules (or, red). Per pale gules (or, red), a chain or placed per cross, saltire and orle, charged in the middle with an emerald proper, that is, vert (or, green). In the third quarter: Gules (or, red) a crescent argent ensigned with a Latin cross or. In the fourth quarter: Azure (or, blue), a signaling pennant, a bishop's crozier and a halberd all or. In the middle, an oval escutcheon azure with three fleurs-de-lis or (or, yellow) placed two and one; a bordure gules (or, red), proper to the reigning dynasty. The shield in Spanish shape, surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The elements of the coat of arms are related to the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, which was faught in 1212 very close to Vilches. The castle, the lion, the four red pallets and the golden chain symbolize the banners of the different Christian kingdoms united against the "Green King", Al Nasir, that is, Castile, León, Aragón and Navarre, respectively. The Latin cross alludes to the Christian victory while the crescent alludes to the Muslim defeat. The signaling cross, kept as a trophy in the parish church, is believed to have been raised by Canon Domingo Pascual to guide the Christian armies during the battle. The crozier recalls the most significant contribution to the victory of Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada, Archbishop of Toledo. The halberd is a weapon characteristic of the Brotherhood of Crossbowmen, established in Vilches after the battle and commissioned to keep the cross that symbolizes the victory. The fleurs-de-lis allude to the Bourbon dynasty.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Jaén (PDF file)]
Ivan Sache, 29 June 2009