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![[Flag]](../images/e/es-se-vi.gif)
Flag of El Viso del Alcor - Image from the Símbolos de Sevilla website, 5 June 2014
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The municipality of El Viso del Alcor (19,099 inhabitants in 2013; 2,040 ha; municipal website), is located 30 km east of Seville, on the hillside of the cordillera of Los Alcores, dominating the left bank of the Guadalquivir.
Made of fertile, well-watered sedimentary soil, the municipal territory of El Viso was already settled in the Paleolithic and in the Neolithic. In the first millenium BC, the Punics built there towers to protect the fields and the roads, where people could take shelter in case of danger. After the conquest, the Hispano-Romans built there villas (estates). They were succeeded in the 4th-5th centuries by the Visigoths, who were themselves expelled by the Muslims. Accordingly, the first permanent settlers of El Viso were of Berber origin. During the siege of Seville by the Christians (1246-1248), the region of Los Alcores were plundered, and they still suffer from the deforestation made at that time. El Viso was reconquered on 12 August 1246. At the end of the 13th century, the area was resettled, mostly in the villages of Carmona and Mairena del Alcor, while El Viso was reduced to a small farm.
In the first half of the 14th century, however, the colonists of Carmona decided to resettle El Viso since Mairena was deemed too small. El Viso had then several successive lords, until King John II granted the domain in 1430/1440 to his loyal vassal in the Granada War, Juan Arias de Saavedra. The lord edicted Ordenanzas municipales to secure the territory of El Viso and set up a municipal administration, the Concejo o Ayuntamiento de El Viso. From the 14th to the 18th century, El Viso mostly lived from agriculture, producing olives, wine and grains. Trade was boosted in the 18th century by the building of the Madrid-Cádiz road. Religion was very important and the villagers founded several brotherhoods and set up various festivals. A market and a slaughterhouse were founded at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, while a rural middle-class emerged, building "palaces".
Ivan Sache, 29 August 2007
The flag of El Viso del Alcor (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo,
photo, photo), adopted on 26 June 2007 by the Municipal Council and submitted on 27 June 2007 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 9 July 2007 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 25 July 2007 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 146, p. 40 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: Made of three horizontal stripes, blue, white, and blue, with a relation of 3:2 between its maximum and minimum dimensions, the inner and outer dimensions matching the proportions and standards accepted for the flags of Andalusia and Spain. On the white central stripe, skewed to the hoist, is the coat of arms of the town.
El Viso del Alcor has been using "for centuries" a flag horizontally divided blue-white-blue. The municipal administration initiated the process of official registration of the flag in July 2006.
The colours of the flag recall the local devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as does the Ave Maria on a blue field shown on the coat of arms. The patron saint of the town is St. Mary of the Alcor; every September, the streets and squares of the town are decorated in "patron blue" to celebrate the patron saint's festival.
[Municipal website]
The coat of arms of El Viso del Alcor, validated by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Royal Decree No. 2,836, adopted on 12 November 1976 and published on 9 Decembr 1976 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 295, p. 24,568 (text). This was confirmed by a Decree 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 coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per pale, 1. Azure a monogram of the Blessed Virgin or, 2. Gules a Cross of Mercy argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The coat of arms was deigned by Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent.
The Marian monogram evokes the dedication of the town to the Virgin of the Alcor; the patron saint is venerated in a pilgrimage and is the namesake of the Mudéjar church of the town.
The cross recalls the Corpus Christi convent, founded in El Viso del Alcor by the Discalced Mercedarians; this was the second foundation of the reformed order, after Almoraima, but indeed the first implementing the Constitutions established by Friar John Baptist of the Blessed Sacrament. The monk obtained the support of Beatriz Ramírez de Mendoza, Countess of Castellar and widow of the 4th Count of Castellar, also lord of El Viso. With the help of the Duke of Feria, the Countess obtained a Papal Bull allowing the foundation of the convent of the Discalced Mercedarians. She paid for the building of the convent, which was officially inaugurated in 1604.
[Juan José Antequera Luengo. Heráldica oficial de la provincia de Sevilla]
Ivan Sache, 14 July 2009
![[Flag]](../images/e/es-se-v1.gif)
Former flag of El Viso del Alcor - Image by Ivan Sache, 29 August 2007
El Viso del Alcor has been using "for centuries" a flag horizontally divided blue-white-blue.
Ivan Sache, 14 July 2009
