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Castilléjar (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Castilléjar - Image from the Símbolos de Granada website, 21 April 2014

Presentation of Castilléjar
Symbols of Castilléjar

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Presentation of Castilléjar

The municipality of Castilléjar (1,324 inhabitants in 2008; 13,200 ha; municipal website) is located in the region of Huéscar, 140 km north of Granada.

Located in the fertile plain watered by river Guárdal, Castilléjar was probably the seat of a fortress in the late Muslim period; after the withdrawal of the Moors, the fortress lost its strategic use and its stones were reused to build the parish church. The 13 caves of La Moreria, located in the cliff on two levels some 20-30 m above the river, were most probably excavated at the same period; impossible to access without special device, they were probably used as a shelter during troubled periods. Such caves are common in the Huéscar region, but the Castilléjar caves are the oldest ones. After the expelling of the Moriscos, the village was resettled by Christian colonists; its territorial limits were fixed in 1513.

Ivan Sache, 2 July 2009

Symbols of Castilléjar

The flag (photo) and arms of Castilléjar, adopted on 28 April 2008 by the Municipal Council and submitted on 26 May 2008 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, are prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 June 2008 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 28 June 2008 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 122, p. 87 (text).
The symbols are described as follows:

Flag: Rectangular panel, in proportions 2:3, vertically divided in the middle. On left, at hoist, blue. On right, white. Overall, in the middle, the municipal coat of arms, 1/2 of hoist in width.
Coat of arms: Per pale. 1. Argent in base fesses wavy azure. 2. Azure in base fesses wavy argent in chief a letter "R" of the same. Overall a Moorish castle open of the field, without either masonry or machicolation, countercoloured. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown open.

The flag represents the whole municipal territory of Castilléjar, while the coat of arms placed in the middle stands for the town of Castilléjar. The flag uses the colours fo the coat of arms, counter-changed. Blue represents the luminous sky of Castilléjar, while white represents the soil [Minutes of the Municipal Council, 28 April 2008 (text)].

The castle (castillo) makes the arms canting. The local castle was built in the 12th century by the Almohads; accordingly, it is represented in a Moorish way, without masonry, like the cob-walled Berber fortresses of the time. The waves represent river Barbatasy and Guardal, whose confluence is located in the municipality. Azure and argent are the colours of the arms of Alba. The letter "R" recalls that the today's name of the municipality is made of the old name, Castilleja, to which a final "r" was appended.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Granada (PDF file)]

Ivan Sache, 21 April 2014