Last modified: 2008-05-24 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: santa cruz | provincia de santa cruz | comandante luis piedra buena | piedra buena (luis) | figueroa (patricio adrián) | río turbio | turbio | díaz (manuel dante) | el calafate | calafate |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
The Province of Santa Cruz is administratively divided in 7 departments. Inside each department there are a different number of municipalities of two kinds: municipio for the bigger ones and comisión de fomento for the smaller ones. In total the province has 20 municipalities.
Francisco Gregoric, 20 Apr 2008
![[Comandante Luis Piedra Buena municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-z-cp.gif)
The Municipality of Comandante Luis Piedra Buena of 4,176 inhabitants as per 2001 census
is located close to the estuary of the Santa Cruz River.
The colonization of the area started in 1859 in the Pavón Island located in estuary of the Santa Cruz River.
Previously named Islet Reach by the British Pringles Stokes, a member of the 1827 Fitz Roy Expedition, the island was re-named Pavón by then Captain Luis Piedra Buena in honor of the Battle of Pavón.
Commander Luis Piedra Buena [1833-1883] raised in the island the Argentine flag 1859. He was an Argentine mariner and explorer born in Patagonia that led the Argentine colonization of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
He is also the great-grand uncle of the vexillologist Gustavo Tracchia.
Since 1859 the place was an important center of scientific expeditions. On the opposite shore of Pavón Island, in 1880, a settlement was established in firm land named Colonia Santa Cruz.
Later, the settlement was re-named Paso Santa Cruz and much later, Paso Ibáñez, after Gregorio Ibáñez, another explorer of the area.
In 1933 the place was named Comandante Luis Piedrabuena, but after 1968, the spelling was change to Luis Piedra Buena, to conform to the name as originally written.
According to the municipal website, the local flag has the following meaning:
The Sun: the royal celestial body, source of energy and life.
House: A symbolic representation of the settlement located in Pavón Island.
It is the place where Commander Luis Piedra Buena and his wife Julia Dufour lived, located at 68º 55´ 00" West and 50º 00" South.
Southern Cross: locates the settlement in the southern hemisphere, and identifies its people as inhabitants of Patagonia where the Province of Santa Cruz is located.
The Southern Cross and the wavy lines are also present on the flag of the Province.
Esmerald Green Color: the typical shade of the Santa Cruz River.
Sky: the cold sky blue shade is typical of the southern skies of the region.
Navy Blue: the color of the southern seas with white wavy stripes representative of the waves.
The author of the design is the Grupo Sud (Patricio Adrián Figueroa)
Francisco Gregoric, 06 May 2008
![[Rio Turbio municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-z-rt.gif)
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
![[El Calafate municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-z-ec.gif)
The Municipality of El Calafate in the Province of
Santa Cruz, Argentina, adopted a flag.
Valentin Poposki, 26 Aug 2006
The town of El Calafate is located at south western part of the Province of Santa Cruz, at 320 Km of Río Gallegos, capital of the province, and next to the Lago Argentino.
It had 6,410 inhabitants as per the last census (2001). The place is a very important center of international tourism, because the town is near the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glaciers National Park). In the area near El Calafate two important glaciers can be seen: the Perito Moreno Glacier (named for Francisco Pascasio Moreno [1852-1919], an Argentine explorer, naturalist and scientist) and the Uppsala Glacier (named for the Swedish University of Uppsala that first studied this glacier in 1908).
The flag of El Calafate has two shades of sky blue. It has wavy lines at bottom that probably stand for the Lago Argentino. At the center, a white iceberg appears. During summer, it is common to see small icebergs coming from the glaciers of the area, floating in Lago Argentino.
Above the glacier, the representation a plant with thorns and purple fruits appears. This is the calafate bush (Berberis buxifolia) that gives its name to the town. The fruit of this plant is similar to the blueberry. The legend says that someone who tries this fruit or the jam made of it, it will keep coming back to the region.
Once again we see the Southern Cross constellation, which so far is a constant in the flags of the region.
The flag has two common features with the provincial and municipal flags of Santa Cruz: the wavy lines below simulating water, and the Southern Cross.
Francisco Gregoric, 07 May 2008
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.