Last modified: 2015-11-13 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-se-as.gif)
Flag of Almensilla - Image by Ivan Sache, 17 October 2015
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The municipality of Almensilla (5,816 inhabitants in 2014; 1,431 ha; municipal website) is located 15 km south-west of Seville.
Almensilla was established as an alquería (estate) owned by Serra-al-Mensi. The area, rich in underground water, was extremely suitable for irrigated agriculture and permanent settlement. However, the etymology of the name of the town is still controversial; some historians believe it was not named for its Arab settler but for the Latin word mensilla, "a small plateau".
Almensilla belonged to Palomares del Río until 1837; in the 17th century, it was ruled by the powerful Count-Duke of Olivares.
Ivan Sache, 24 May 2014
The flag of Almensilla (photo) is horizontally divided yellow-white-yellow.
The coat of arms is "Argent an olive tree proper. A bordure or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed".
Municipal documents of the last third of the 19th century are stamped with a seal featuring an olive tree.
Juan José Antequera Luengo proposed on 7 April 1994 symbols that were not adopted.
The coat of arms is "Per pale, 1. Argent an olive tree proper, 2. Gules a Latin cross superimposed with a Marian monogram argent two doves affronty argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed."
The first quarter represents the main source of income for the municipality, already represented on municipal seals stamping documents from the last third of the 19th century.
The second quarter represents the Nuestra Señora de la Antigua church, a Mudéjar building revamped in the 18th and 19th century, and, mostly, Nuestra Señora de las Anfustias, the town's patron saint, and St. Diego de Alcalá, to whom a chapel is dedicated. A statue of the saint was forwarded in 1716 from the School of the Archbishopric of Seville for the chapel of the Marquis of Las Torres. The establishment of a separate parish dedicated to specific patrons contributed to the raise of awareness of the local identity and differentiation from Palomares. The cross and the doves are Franciscan symbols.
The flag is in proportions 11:18, made of four parallel stripes of equal width and perpendicular to the hoist, yellow, red, white and green, with the coat of arms centered.
[Juan José Antequera Luengo. Heráldica oficial de la provincia de Sevilla]
Ivan Sache & Klaus-Michael Schneider, 24 May 2014
