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Ardales (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Flag of Ardales - Image from Símbolos de Málaga, 9 April 2022

Presentation of Ardales
Symbols of Ardales

See also:

Presentation of Ardales

The municipality of Ardales (2,518 inhabitants in 2021; 10,651 ha; municipal website) is located 50 km north-west of Málaga.

Ardales was already settled in the prehistoric times, as evidenced by the rock paintings found in the Calinoria / Doña Trinidad Ground, located 5 km from the village. Monochrome representations of animals date the paintings to the Upper Paleolithic. In the Celtiberian period, Ardales was the probable site of the town of Turobriga protected by the Turón castle. The Romans fortified the area with the Peña de Ardales castle, around which the village developed. Urbanization was completed after the Arab invasion by Emir Al-Hurr Al Tagafi, who built the town of Ard-Allah in 716.
During the 9th century, the now ruined village of Bobastro, located 4 km east of Ardales, was the center of the Mozarab rebellion led by Omar Ben Hafsum against the Caliphate of Córdoba. The fortresses of Ardales and Turón in the west, Teba in the east, and Álora in the south formed Bobastro's defensive belt. Subsequently, the castle of Ardales, located on the border, was fiercely disputed by Moors and Christians.
Ardales was reconquered on 24 March 1389 by Juan Ramírez de Guzmán, who was named by King Henry III first lord of the place. The Ardales Pact was signed in the castle of Ardales by King John II, represented by Diego Gómez de la Ribera, Adelantado of Andalusia, and the Muslim prince Yusuf Ben Al Mawi.

Ivan Sache, 9 April 2022

Symbols of Ardales

The flag of Ardales, adopted on 11 November 2021 by the Municipal Council and submitted on 30 December 2021 to the Directorate General of Local Administration, is prescribed by a Resolution issued on 21 February 2022 by the Directorate General of Local Administration and published on 1 March 2022 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 40, p. 3,154 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: ectangular, perpendicularly divided into three equal parts, the two extreme parts themselves divided in three stripes, two green ones an another white one, of the same dimensions. The central part is white.
In the geometric center is placed the coat of arms reduced at the appropriate scale. The shield is wrapped in base by a branch of flowering almond and a branch of olive.

The coat of arms of Ardales, adopted on 8 October 1987 by the Municipal Council and validated on 24 June 1988 by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 295 issued on 11 October by the Government of Andalusia and published on 1 November 1988 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 88, p. 24,435(text). This was confirmed by a Resolution adopted on 30 November 2004 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 20 December 2004 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 246, pp. 28,986-29,002 (text)).
The arms are described as follows:

Coat of arms: Gules a fortified bridge or a base azure. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The coat of arms features the two castles of Turón and Ardales and the La Molina bridge spanning over river Turón. Blue is the dominant color in the arms of the Guzmán, once lords of the town.
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía]

The La Molina bridge is located in the extreme north-western part of the village. Part of the Roman road connecting Illuro (Álora) to Arunda (Ronda), it is one of the few preserved remains of Roman civil architecture in the province of Málaga. Out of its original five arches, only three have been preserved until now; the arch located closer to the village is of genuine Roman building, while the two other ones, built in the 18th century and more recently, respectively, re-used material from the original bridge.
[Viajeros en Corto]

Ivan Sache, 9 April 2022