"The most noble, loyal and illustrious city of Alcalá de los Gazules"
The old town hall on the Plaza Alta Visitors to Alcalá will not immediately recognise this little white village as a city, but in fact it has had city status since 1876. This year celebrates the 150th anniversary of its change in status from Villa to Ciudad, and the alcalaínos have been celebrating. Some historical background During the decade leading up to 1876 Spain had experienced considerable political turmoil. In 1868 there was a revolution against Queen Isabel II, who was deeply unpopular. Known as "La Gloriosa", the revolt was led by two former army generals, Juan Prim and Francisco Serrano. It started with a naval mutiny in Cádiz, and following her defeat at the Battle of Alcolea, near Cordoba, Isabel fled to France. Serrano became president of a new Provisional Government but this was doomed to failure as it was comprised of a mishmash of Liberals, Moderates and Republicans with nothing in common except a desire to get rid of Isabel. They did however manage to dra...