Last modified: 2016-05-21 by ivan sache
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The municipality of Nuevo Baztán (5,959 inhabitants in 2014; 2,020 ha; uofficial website, unofficial website) is located in the south-east of the Community of Madrid, 50 km of Madrid and 20 km of Alcalá de Henares.
Nuevo Baztán was established in 1715 by Juan de Goyeneche (1656-1735), who named the new settlements for his birth place, the valley of Baztán (Navarra). Goyeneche, an entrepreneur and economist, founded in 1697 the first newspaper in Spain, the Gaceta de Madrid. King Charles II subsequently appointed him Treasurer of the Royal Militia; he was also the treasurer of three queens of Spain, Mary of Neuburg (Charles II's wife), Marie-Louise of Savoy and Isabel Farnese (Philip V's wives). Goyeneche contributed to Philip V's victory in the War of the Spanish Succession, by sending in 1702 a fleet of 80 vessels to defend Cádiz and negotiating the crossing of Navarre by the Bourbon troops heading from France to Spain.
Goyeneche founded Nuevo Baztán in a deserted place of Olmeda de la Cebolla, named Bosque de Acevedo (lit., Hollywood). From 1709 to 1713, a palace, a church, squares, houses and worker's estates, designed in the Spanish baroque style by the famous architect José Benito de Churriguera (1665-1725), were built by Italian, Flemish, and, mostly, Navarrese craftsmen. Influenced by Colbert, Goyeneche attempted to increase the national industrial potential of Spain; accordingly, he planned Nuevo Baztán as an utopic, industrial town. Factories were successively established in the town, producing military hats and cloth (1715), brandy (1716) and glass (1720). A document of the Archbishop of Toledo dated 1722 states that the new town counted more than 500 inhabitants living in 80 houses. The next year, Nuevo Baztán separated from Olmeda.
After his death, Juan de Goyeneche was succeeded by his son Francisco Javier, who could not maintain the supplying contract with the army. His brother, Francisco Miguel, succeeded him in 1748 and re-centered the production on hats, cloth and paper. The last fiscal advantages were suppressed in 1747, which caused the decline of the factories, eventually closed in 1778.
Nuevo Baztán was registered as an Historical and Artistic Monument by a Decree published on 26 October 1941 in the Spanish official gazette.
Ivan Sache, 17 July 2015
The flag of Nuevo Baztán (photos) is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 4 July 1996 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 23 January 1997 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 19, p. 21 (text), and on 18 February 1997 in the Spanish official gazette, No. 42, pp. 5,501-5,502 (text).
The flag is described as follows:
Flag: In proportions 2:3. A yellow chain as the bordure. In the center is placed the municipal coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Nuevo Baztán is prescribed by a Decree adopted on 10 April 1985 by the Government of the Community of Madrid and published on 10 May 1985 in the official gazette of the Community of Madrid, No. 110, p. 6 (text).
The coat of arms is described as follows:
Coat of arms: Per fess, 1. Chequy argent and sable (Baztán), 2. Argent a holly vert. The shield surmounted by a Royal crown closed.
The symbols of Nuevo Baztán contain straightforward references to Goyeneche: the chains of Navarre and the arms of Baztán. The holly is a reference to the place where the town was established, lit. Hollywood.
The Royal Academy of History rejected the proposed arms, which included too many partitions and elements not characteristic of the municipality, for instance, a sun expressing "unity, truth, clarity, grace, majesty, abundance of resources, liberality and benevolence". The design refers to the origin of the place without providing any significant documentation. The Academy proposed the arms that were eventually adopted by the Municipal Council.
[Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1984, 181, 3: 430]
Ivan Sache, 17 July 2015
