Last modified: 2010-10-08 by eugene ipavec
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The municipality of Fuente Álamo de Murcia (14,876 inhabitants in 2009; 273 sq. km) is located 35 km south of Murcia.
In 1520, a group of workers and farmers decided to settle in a place known at least since the 15th century as "la fuente de el álamo" (The Poplar's Fountain). Very isolated, the new village remained for long the only inhabited settlement between Lorca and Cartagena. Due to the availability in land and water, the village developed quickly, so that its population increased to 240 in 1640.
However, the settlement had no proper status and was divided into three sections, each run by the remote municipality of Cartagena, Lorca or Murcia. This complex administrative situation did not boost the development of the village. Aspiration to a local administration grew up; led by the notables, 120 villagers gathered on 31 August 1694 on the village's square to ask for a municipal status. Commissioned to plead the cause at the Royal Court, Gregorio Reillo Hernández was able to convince King Philip IV; however, Cartagena, Lorca and Murcia were not prepared to abandon a significant source of income and proposed to pay a big annuity to the king to maintain Fuente Álamo under their rule. Nothing happened until Philip IV's death; his successor, the ill Charles II, signed on 20 July 1700 a Royal Letter granting the status of Town to the village of Fuente Álamo.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 04 Apr 2010
On 3 August 2009, Lola Guardiola reported in "La Verdad" that the Municipal Council had appointed the official chronicler, Andrés Nieto, to design a flag proposal. Nieto proposed a light blue flag charged with the municipal coat of arms.
Source: "La Verdad," 03 Aug 2010
On 2 April 2010, Lola Guardiola reported in "La Verdad" the adoption of the municipal flag by the Municipal Council. The flag, different from the original proposal, shall be horizontally divided green-white-blue with the municipal arms in the middle.
Source: "La Verdad," 02 Apr 2010
An article dated 31 March 2010, available on "murcia.com", says that the white stripe on the flag should be twice higher than the two other ones and that nine red stars should represent the nine settlements forming the municipality. The adopted proposal shall be forwarded to the Royal Academy "Alfonso X The Wise" for validation.
Source: murcia.com
Ivan Sache, 04 Apr 2010
The municipal coat of arms of Fuente Álamo was adopted by the Municipal Council on 27 March 1971, after approval by the Royal Academy of History on 12 February 1971 of the proposal submitted by the Municipal Council on 28 March 1970. The coat of arms was confirmed by Decree 1749/1971 of 1 July 1971, published in the Spanish official gazette 172 on 20 July 1971, as follows:
"Spanish shield. Argent a poplar vert on a mound of the same, in base a wave azure charged with a wave argent. The shield bordered by the writing "Fuente Álamo de Murcia, muy noble y muy leal villa" [Very noble and very loyal town]. The shield topped by a Royal crown."
The official chronicler Ricardo Ortega Merino published in 1947 the pamphlet "El escudo de Fuente Álamo" (The coat of arms of Fuente Álamo), calling for a municipal coat of arms. The book shows a seal used during the Spanish Republic, oval with a tree and a fountain, a mural crown and the rim charged with the writing "AYUTAMIENTO - REPUBLICA - FUENTE-ÁLAMO DE MURCIA", deemed inappropriate by the author.
The municipal archives keep remains of a poster advertizing a taurine festival, designed in 1944 by the painter Laorden; Ortega describes in his book the arms:
"In the background a mountain, looking like the Giza pyramid, a kind of basin supplied by a crozier-shaped fountain placed below a poplar. The whole surmonted by a Count's coronet, of the fantastic origin I have no idea."Ortega concluded with the proposal of an heraldic shield:
"The arms of Fuente Álamo shall be azure, in base a water fountain, on its left a leaved poplar" and commissioned the young painter José Hernández García (b. 1929, today a locally noted artist) to design the arms.
Source: Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 04 Apr 2010