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Lebrija (Municipality, Andalusia, Spain)

Presentation of Lebrija
Symbols of Lebrija
Former flag of Lebrija

See also:

Presentation of Lebrija

The municipality of Lebrija (26,046 inhabitants in 2008; 37,520 ha; municipal website), is located 80 km south of Seville.

Lebrija is located in the estuary of Guadalquivir, once a sea gulf called by the Romans Lago Ligustino; the colony of Nabrissa (Lebrija) was a wealthy and safe inner port. The countryside was exploited by several estates (villae) producing olive oil and wine directly exported to Rome. At the end of the 3rd century, the decline of the Roman Empire broke trade and the villagers withdrew to a fortified town built on the eastern hill of the Cerro del Castillo (Castle Mount), a hill that had already been settled in the Neolithic. In the 6th century, sea navigation was no longer possible since the Lago Ligustino had became a marsh with little access to the sea.
In the Moorish times, Lebrija was no longer a port but a rural town of strategic significance, watching the estuary of Guadalquivir. Built on the Cerro del Castillo, the Moorish fortress was connected to the town walls, so that the town became an alcázar (citadel). Conquered by Ferdinand III the Saint, Lebrija was maintained as a fortress protecting the Kingdom of Castile against the Moorish and Portuguese raids. At the end of the 14th century, the foreign threats vanished and the town developed out of the walls. In the 16th-17th centuries, the 6,000 inhabitants of the town lived from agriculture, trading their products to America via the port of Cádiz, especially olive oil, which was the source of the wealth of the town in the 18th century.

Ivan Sache, 14 July 2009

Symbols of Lebrija

The flag of Lebrija (photo, photo), adopted on 26 July 2006 by the Municipal Council and submitted on 28 July 2006 to the Directorate General of the Local Administration, is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 28 August 2006 by the Directorate General of the Local Administration and published on 8 September 2006 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 175, pp. 42-43 (text).
The flag is described as follows:

Flag: Panel in proportions 3:2 (length per hoist), divided in two equal horizontal stripes: the upper celeste blue and the lower white. In the middle, the municipal coat of arms.

The coat of arms of Lebrija, adopted on 16 May 1988 by the Municipal Council and validated on 24 June 1998 by the Royal Academy of History, is prescribed by Decree No. 298, adopted on 11 October 1998 by the Government of Andalusia and published on 1 November 1988 in the official gazette of Andalusia, No. 88, p. 4,435 (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: Azure over waves argent and azure a duck argent surmounted by a tower or masoned sable port and windows gules accosted by two lynxes argent. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.

The waves refer to the marshes located on the municipal territory. The tower represents the fortress of Roman origin, whose remains are still visible close to the town. The lynxes allude to the natural sagacity of the inhabitants of the town, recalled by the dictums "To be more foxy than a lynx" and "To have lynx' eyes".
[Símbolos de las Entidades Locales de Andalucía. Sevilla (PDF file)]

Ivan Sache, 14 July 2009

Former flag of Lebrija

Former, unofficial flag of Lebrija - Image by Santiago Dotor, 4 June 2002

The former flag of Lebrija, hoisted at the Town Hall, was horizontally divided blue-white, without the coat of arms.

Francisco Manuel García, 4 June 2002