Villava: a heraldic enigma

On one side of the Calle Mayor is the Villava Town Hall, an imposing cubic building with an ashlar plinth and the rest of the brick, with ashlar chains at the corners and surrounding the openings. Its facade is articulated in three levels and attic, separated by flat strips; the first one has three linteled doors, while the following two have balconies, the first one overhanging, and the second one, torn and without overhang. The attic is crowned by five small quadrangular windows. It responds more to the typology of a manor house than to that of a town hall.

The heraldry stands out in the complex, since on the second floor it seems that two coats of arms of the original town hall were reused: the first, from 1545, with the arms of Villava, an eight-pointed star surmounted by a silver crescent, and those of Navarre, on a cartouche of twisted leather, in which there is a garland and two cherub heads, very deteriorated; the second, from 1779, follows the same iconography and disposition, although without incorporating the last two elements. In addition, in the third level and presiding over the Building, a baroque shield with helmet for bell and lower mask, that does not carry the arms of the town and without identifying, that perhaps makes reference letter to the original owner of the property.