Last modified: 2020-11-06 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-cc-bm.gif)
Flag of Baños de Montemayor - Image by Ivan Sache, 19 March 2020
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The municipality of Baños de Montemayor (779 inhabitants in 2016, 2,&98 ha; municipal website) is located 120 km north-east of Cáceres, on the border with Castilla y León (Province of Salamanca).
Baños de Montemayor was established in the Roman times close to a thermal source and the Silver Way. The baths (baños) date back to that period. Scholars differ on the identification of the early place, either Cecilio Vico / Caellonico or Banium / Aquae Caperensis. Parts of the Roman way are still visible north and south of the village.
After the Christian reconquest, the Silver Way lost its strategic significance and was used as the border between the kingdoms of Castile and León and between the dioceses of Coria and Plasencia. Accordingly the village was split into two administratively distinct settlements: the St. Catherine parish was owned by the Duke of Béjar (Castile) and the Diocese of Plasencia, while the St. Mary parish was owned by the Marquis of Montemayor and the Diocese of Coria.
The Montemayor baths (corporate website) are supplied with sulphur-bering water, gushing forth from the Columna and Arqueta sources at a temperature of 43 C. The baths are rcommended to heal rhumatismum, arthrosis, arthritis and respiratory disorders.
In the beginning of the 20th century, José Ramón Mélida, who excavated and rebuilt the Roman theater of Mérida, provided archeological evidence that the Montemayor baths were already known at the Roman times, at least since the 2nd century BC. Mélida could identify the remains of the original Roman constructions among subsequent additions.
The baths were reactivated in 1628 by Ordinances issued by Juan Luis de Silva y Ribera, Marquis of Montemayor. At the end of the 18th century, Francisco Laso de la Vega Córdova, Bishop of Plasencia (1721-1738), ordered the building of roads and bridges to serve the baths. Bishop Porras and the chapter of the cathedral subsequently funded the building of pools and a roofed gallery to house the visitors. Francisco Martínez was appointed the first director of the baths in 1817. The municipalities of Béjar and Montemayor transferred on 1833 the property of the baths to the villagers. In the 1920s, the politician Alejandro Lerroux (Partido Radical) erected a modern hotel and transferred its management to the Ferrero company, dissolved in 1944.
Ivan Sache, 19 March 2020
The flag (photo) and arms of Baños de Montemayor, adopted on 27 February, 24 September and 10 November 1992 by the Municipal Council and validated on 23 June and 24 November 1992 by the Assessing Council of Honors and Distinctions of the Government of Extremadura, are prescribed by an Order issued on 27 November 1992 by the Government of Extremadura and published on 17 December 1992 in the official gazette of Extremadura, No. 98, pp. 2,774-2,775 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3. White, charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms in full colors.
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Argent fesses wavy argent and azure ensigned by a spring azure, 2. Argent a tree eradicated vert fructed gules surrounded by two wolves sable. A bordure gules eight chain rings or. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
Ivan Sache, 19 March 2020