![[Rio Gallegos municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-z-rg.gif)
Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
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image by Ivan Sache, 3 Nov 2010
The municipality of Río Gallegos (79,144 inhabitants in 2001), watered by the river of the same name, is the capital of the Santa Cruz Province, Patagonia.
The site of today's Río Gallegos was visited in the 16th century by Spanish expeditions; in 1525, Jofré de Loaiza named the river "San
Ildefonso", while in 1535 Simón de Alcazaba renamed it "Gallegos". There is no further evidence, however, of significant European
settlement until 1883, when Carlos Moyano was appointed Governor of the Santa Cruz Territory. To highlight its sovereignty on the
Patagonian coasts, the Argentine government opened a scheduled line between Buenos Aires and the Patagonian ports, served by the
"Villarino", commanded by Captain Federico Sphur; Río Gallegos was founded on 19 December 1885 as a Maritime Subprefecture, with the aim of "exercizing permanent, direct and straight domination on the continental end of the country, within the framework of the defense of the national sovereignty". In 1888, Governor Ramón Lista ordered the transfer of the territorial capital from Puerto Santa Cruz to Río Gallegos; the transfer was officialized on 19 May by governmental Decree. The Santa Cruz Territory became the Santa Cruz Province in 1957. Río Gallegos became a municipality in 1907, the third in Patagonia after Chubut and Viedma.
The flag of Río Gallegos, designed by the local Dorbedo Higinio González, is vertically divided blue-white-celeste blue, the white
stripe being charged in the middle by a sailboat, a seagull and two waves, all in blue.
The flag was selected on 15 October 2010 among 113 proposals submitted in a public contest* launched in July 2010 (deadline, 30 September 2010) by the municipal administration.
The sailboat is the aforementioned "Villarino", recalling the past of the town. The seagull, as a
majestic local bird, symbolizes the present and the future of the port town. The waves represent river Gallegos and its estuary, which deserve more protection. The design was inspired by the municipal coat of arms, a blue shield with a sailboat sailing on a sea and under the Southern Cross, all in white. Blue recalls the municipal arms while celeste blue recalls the national flag.
Presented, as a drawing, on 21 October 2010, the flag shall be officially hoisted (in the cloth) on 19 December 2010 for the
celebration of the Town's Day.
Ivan Sache, 3 Nov 2010
![[Rio Turbio municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-z-rt.gif)
image by Francisco Gregoric, 10 May 2008
The Municipality of Río Turbio is located at southwest of the Province of Santa Cruz, at 220 Km of Río Gallegos, capital of the province, and 8 Km to the Chilean border. It had 6,746 inhabitants as per the last census (2001).
The area is the most important deposit of coal of Argentina and most people in the area work in the coal mines.
The official flag of Río Turbio was chosen by contest on May 22, 2006. The winning flag was designed by Mr. Manuel Dante Díaz.
The flag has a diagonal stripe from upper right to lower left, recalling the Argentine flag and dividing the field in two triangles.
The upper field is blue with four silver stars forming the Southern Cross.
Blue stands for popularity, harmony, communication, life and purity of the space. The Southern Cross constellation shows the location of Río Turbio in the Southern Hemisphere. The silver stars are representative of peace and tenacity.
A white ice crystal or snow inside the Southern Cross stands for purity and cleanliness. It's the same white color used in our national flag as a sign of distinction and greatness.
In the lower field of the triangle is of black, with a Margarita (Daisy) flower with a central golden circle. Black stand for power, elegance, formality and nobility. It also represents the coal that gave origin to Río Turbio.
The meaning of the white color of the Daisy flower is the same one of the ice crystal symbol, while the golden center stands for wisdom, love, virtues, constancy, justice and truth.
Ratio and internal dimensions of the flag:
In the text of the website www.mirioturbio.com.ar, the flag is defined as 120 cm long by 90 cm wide (3:4 ratio). However the image looks more like 9:14. This website also has the internal dimensions of the flag given below, that are slightly different from the ones of the image.
According to the website information, the diagonal stripe with the Argentine colors should be 10 cm wide.
The axis of the Southern Cross should be 53 cm by 36 cm. Each star should be 10 cm, and the white symbol of ice should be 20 cm high.
According to the text in the website, the Daisy flower in the lower field should have 13 petals (the image has 14), and it should have a diameter of 25 cm. Its central golden circle should have a diameter of 10 cm.
Francisco Gregoric, 10 May 2008
