![[Argentine flag]](../images/a/ar.gif)
Last modified: 2006-08-19 by francisco gregoric
Keywords: argentina | sun: 32 rays | sun: face | belgrano (manuel) | celeste | ceremonial flag | civil ensign | law | doubt | ratio |
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The contents are a narration of how and when it was first
raised. Not very vexillological...
Santiago Dotor, 10 Jun 1999
The ratio is stated in Album 2000 [pay00]
as 2:3, with note that 1:2 flags exist. The flag is
marked as 
, which is correct, as far as
I know, from 1985.
Zeljko Heimer, 03 Feb 2001
In 1944 was done the first modern effort to regulate and legislate
about the Argentine symbols. The purpose was to standardize criteria
and legislate what remained unlegislated. As usual, though, some things
were looked over, especially about the flag.
Therefore in 1985 and 1999 new legislation took place. However, some
details are still left unclarified. For instance, the color of the
sun as well as its features, is not described by law, neither that it
should appear on both sides of the flag.
Gustavo Tracchia, 23 Sep 2001,
translated by António Martins
A complete and exaustive legislation about the [argentine] national
symbols is missing. An inter-ministry commission, in wich the [Argentine
History] Academy participated by way of one of its members, ellaborated in
the years (?) 1989 a law draft that was presented to the Congress [the
argentine parlament], but wasn’t considered for voting after all. More
recently some legislators has presented more drafts, but only about the
flag. These remained as drafts only.
Néstor Poitevin (Argentine History Academy),
20 Aug 1999, translated by António Martins
The Argentine standard was conceived by General Belgrano, at
the place where today is located the city of Rosario. He got the
inspiration while he was staring at the sky, just before a battle,
at the shores of the Paraná.
Felipe Flores Pinto, 23 Feb 1998
The Argentine Flag Day, 20th June, is
Belgrano’s death anniversary.
Oswaldo Gorgazzi, 01 Jan 2001
![[Argentine civil flag]](../images/a/ar_3.gif)
Presidential decree number 1541 signed by Argentine President Raul Ricardo Alfonsin on 16 August 1985, and companion law number 23,208 of the same date proved that Argentine citizens have the right to use (tienen derecho a usar) the official national flag (la Bandera Oficial de la Nación), provided it is used with respect and honor. Article 1 of both instruments makes explicit that citizens — not merely the federal, provincial, and territorial governments — have the right to use the Argentine flag containing the sun emblem in the center stripe. Article 2 of these instruments ablishes portions of earlier decrees (25 April 1884, 19 June 1943, and 24 April 1944) that restriced the use of the sun-bearing flag to the military and government agencies and derogated the legal status of the plain flag.
[...] The 1985 law does not abolish the Argentine flag without the sun, which has existed since 1816; rather, the law simply extnds the use of the sun flag to all Argentines, provided it is accorded honor and respect. Additionally, by abolishing certain articles of the 1940s decrees, the 1985 law has the effect of again recognizing the plain triband as an official flag of Argentine national character.
Timothy Boronczyk, 22 Jul 1998, quoting Gustavo Tracchia [tra98]
According to Album des Pavillons,
[pay00], 2000,
flag without sun emblem is
«alternative civil flag and ensign», so
. Ratio is given as
9:14, but I am not aware from where that numbers come.
Zeljko Heimer, 03 Feb 2001
According to Album des Pavillons,
[pay], 1995, this
is also the civil ensign (“symbolic ensign”),
proportion 1:2.
Ivan Sache, 26 May 1999
"Celeste" is spanish for "of the sky" (as in “sky-ish”).
António Martins, 25 Sep 1998
Argentines call the main colour of their national flag
celeste (that is colour of the day sky at the normal
angles of sight).
Followers of the Partido
Justicialista prefer cyan (a mix of blue and green,
),
those of the previous Unión Cívica
Radical government preferred whitish blue
(
).
Anything in between is also acceptable, but saturated blue
(
)
definitely not.
Gerardo W. Fischer, 22 Jun 1996
Blue and sky blue were used indistinctly until the Decree no.10302
of April 24th 1944 which defined it as «blue as clear as the sky»
[great!]
Santiago Dotor, 15 Jun 1999, translating from
this website
The shade is Pantone 290, even though many use 297 instead since 290
results too ligh sometimes. It's a matter of finding out the situations
when it is used.
(This is not an official specification: It was fixed by me,
Whitney Smith and Peter Orenski, comparing several flags of silk,
canvas, polyester, etc. that I had gathered, along with the
illustrations that come with the official argentine bulletins.)
Gus Tracchia, 04 Feb 2000, translated by António Martins
“Approximate“ (i.e. not official) shades (both Pantone und CMYK) given in the Album 2000 [pay00]:
| Pantone | CMYK | |
|---|---|---|
| Blue | 2975c | 40-0-0-0 |
| Yellow | 116c | 0-10-95-0 |
A reccomendation of this Academy (1997.04.09), to
answer an query from the Chancelry, about the color
identification in the Pantone scale, specifies that:
«according to it will be chosen from the sampler
"Pantone Color Formula GUIDE" the colors Pantone
298 C or Pantone 2995 C which are
approximates of the blue shade that corresponds to
our flag. Naturally, depending on the quality,
texture and kind of surface (dull or bright) there
will be visual variations in color perception, but
those given above seem to be quite approximative to
the requested identification.»
Néstor Poitevin (Argentine History Academy),
20 Aug 1999, translated by António Martins
These Pantones reccomended by the History Academy seem too dark
to me, and they dont fit the (later) official law about the
colors: Cielab L’ 64.35 a 7.02 b 29.17 C 30.01 H’ 256.47.
António Martins, 11 Oct 1999 and 15 Nov 1999
Blue and sky blue [celeste] were
used indistinctly until the Decree
no.10302 of April 24th 1944 which defined it as «blue as clear
as the sky» [great!]
Santiago Dotor, 15 Jun 1999, translating from
this website
The ratio is 1:2. However the military
use 2:3 so they can use it on parades. The same as those used by
schools.
Gustavo Tracchia, 02 Feb 2000,
translated by António Martins
All my (few) sources disagree upon Argentina’s flag proportions:
According to Estandarte [est]
the single explanation [for the quantity of quoted ratios prescribed —
1:2, 13:20, 2:3, 9:13, 4:6] is that the size is regulated by art.0101
of the annex 1, that is not reproduced.
Jaume Ollé, 03 Aug 2000
I have been looking around today and a few days before and I have
seen lots of proportions for the celeste y blanca (skyblue and
white, the national colors). I have not measured, I guess there were
2:3, 1:2, something in between and even one that was longer than 1:2
(10:25 maybe) but not 1:3.
Nicolas Rucks, 25 May 2000
I have seen yet another proportion for the argentinian flag. It was
about 3:4. Again, I didn’t mesure, but it certainly was shorter than
2:3 and the sun was right in the middle, so It was not cur or fold or
whatever, it was manufactured like that. I must say though, that it is
the first time that I see those proportions.
Nicolas Rucks, 26 May 2000
The sun’s diameter, toghether with
the rays and face, cover 4/5ths of the white stripe’s height. The
ratio between the legth of the rays and the face of the sun is
2 : 2.5 : 2. None of this is legislated, only infered
from direct observation of actual flags, set by flag manufators and
designers.
Gustavo Tracchia, 23 Sep 2001,
translated by António Martins
When ceremonially carried, the Argentine flag is subject to certain particular and elaborated practices:
According to art. 4 of the Misiones Province
flag law, school parades chose for their national flag carrier the student
with best grades.
António Martins, 13 Dec 2001