Last modified: 2020-02-09 by ivan sache
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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-gu-ao.gif)
Flag of Alovera - Image by Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019
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The municipality of Alovera (12,570 inhabitants in 2018, therefore the
3rd most populated municipality in the province: 1,365 ha; municipal website) is located 15
km south-west of Guadalajara and 20 km north-east of Alcalá de Henares.
Alovera experienced a demographic boom in the 20th century, its
population increasing from 387 in 1900 to 1,007 in 1978, 3,170 in 2001
and 11,717 in 2011.
Alovera was already settled by the Romans, as evidenced by the "stone" found during the consolidation of the church in 1999 and kept in the Council Hall. This is indeed a funerary monument dated from the 1st-2nd century. The engraving indicates that the stele was dedicated by Antonia Melusa to her husband, Pompeio Fusco, who passed away aged 60; seemingly, Pompeio was so in love with his slave Antonia that he released her in order to officially marry her. Some columns of the church may also come from a Roman villa.
In the Middle Ages, important documents, such as official acts, charters
and Royal Letters, were kept in a wooden safe equipped with three locks;
each of the three council's members kept a key, so that only the three
together could access the municipal "treasure". Lost long ago, the
three-lock safe is mentioned in several written documents.
Alovera was granted the title of villa on 30 January 1626 by Philip II
and acquired by Lorenza de Sotomayor, First Marquess of Villahermosa y
Alovera, and renamed to Villahermosa de Alovera.
Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019
The flag of Alovera (photo,
photo,
photo; video), unanimously adopted on 30 January by the Municipal
Council, is prescribed by Order No. 20, issued on 26 January 2018 by the
Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 8 February 2018 in the
official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 28, p. 3,943 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Rectangular, in proportions 2:3, composed of a diagonal wavy stripe running from the hoist's lower angle to the fly's upper angle, blue outlined in white, the triangle at hoist, green, the triangle at fly, red. Charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms, in width half of the flag's width.
The flag was designed by the Sociedad Española de Vexilología.
The colors are those of the shield, with the same arrangement for the
green and red fields. The waves from the arms form a diagonal stripe
emphasizing the importance of water for the municipality.
[Municipal website, 2 February 2017]
The flag was inaugurated on 11 June 2018.
[Municipal website]
The coat of arms of Alovera is prescribed by an Order issued on 23 June
1994 by the Government of Castilla-La Mancha and published on 1 July
1994 in the official gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, No. 33, p. 2,487 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: In Spanish shape. Per bend sinister, 1. Vert a well or, 2. Gules a watermill argent in base wavy azure and argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The first quarter features a well, recalling that Alovera comes from an
Arab word meaning "a well" / "a place where water is stored", on a green
background representing the fertile fields. The second quarter features
a watermill, recalling the several mills owned by the great monasteries
of the region (San Bartolomé de Lupianna, Santa Clara de Guadalajara...)
or by noble lineages of Guadalajara (Hierro). Among the most producive
mills of Alovera were the municipal mill and the Monárriz mills. The red
background is a symbol of honor. The waves represent river Henares.
[Antonio Herrera Casado & Antonio Ortiz García. Heráldica municipal de Guadalajara]
Ivan Sache, 6 September 2019