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Alpedrete (Municipality, Community of Madrid, Spain)

Flag of Alpedrete - Image by Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015

Presentation of Alpedrete
Symbols of Alpedrete

See also:

Presentation of Alpedrete

The municipality of Alpedrete (14,005 inhabitants in 2014; 1,264 ha; unofficial website) is located in the west of the Community of Madrid, 50 km of Madrid.

Alpedrete was famous for its stone quarries, used to build the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, the Royal Palace and the new ministries in Madrid; the Romans named the place Ad Petrum (At the Stone) and the Moors El Pedrete. Fiercely disputed between Segovia and Madrid, Alpedrete was eventually granted to Madrid by King Alfonso VII in 1160. Incorporated in 1268 to the Real de Manzanares, Alpedrete became in 1630 a village depending on Collado Villalba, from which it separated on 26 April 1840.

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015

Symbols of Alpedrete

The flag of Alpedrete (photos) is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 21 October 1999 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 25 January 2000 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 20, p. 14 (text) and on 26 February 2000 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 49, p. 8,586 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: In proportions 2:3. A crimson red panel charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms.

The coat of arms of Alpedrete is prescribed by Decree No. 3,065, adopted on 7 November 1975 by the Spanish Government and published on 27 November 1975 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 285, p. 24,794 (text).
The coat of arms, which includes minor modifications suggested by the Royal Academy of History, is described as follows:

Coat of arms: Vert a lion rampant barry or and sable crowned or. The shield surmounted by a Royal Spanish crown closed.

The arms were designed in 1973 by Vicente de Cárdenas y Vicent, Chronicler of Arms of the Kingdom of Spain. In October 2001, the heraldist José Magín recommended the Municipal Council to amend the coat of arms because the lion is represented without genitals, which symbolizes "a village punished after having betrayed the king". Magín added that the lion was badly designed, looking "as calling a taxi", while it should have claws and teeth.
[El Pais, 19 October 2001]

Ivan Sache, 28 June 2015