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Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo State (Brazil)

by Marco Aurélio Ebner and Joseph McMillan
First hoisted 1952

About the Flag
Variant Flag

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About the Flag of Ribeirão Preto

The flag of Ribeirão Preto was devised in 1952 in preparation for the city’s hosting of a sports festival involving 5,000 athletes from cities in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, and Mato Grosso. For the opening of the games, the cities were supposed to parade with their flags, but the host city didn’t have one. So the organizing committee sponsored a public contest to design a flag. When no one entered, a municipal employee assigned to assist in organizing the games, Pedro da Silva Salles Júnior, presented several designs for a municipal flag and a sports emblem. One of his designs for the municipal flag was adopted by the committee. The colors of the flag, blue and white, were inspired by the streams that cross the city (blue) and the peace that reigns between the authorities and the citizens (white). On the center is the shield of the city. The coat of arms was adopted by law 95 of 20 June 1949. The idea was that of Guilherme de Almeida (a very famous poet who wrote the poem to the São Paulo state flag that is now the state anthem) and the artistic design was by José Wasth Rodrigues (a well-known heraldic artist of the time who also designed many military insignia, flags, etc., including the standard of the Agulhas Negras Military Academy). The coat of arms is divided per fess. The upper half is blue with a gold eagle, wings extended, its head turned to the right, armed gules, carrying on his breast an escutcheon (red with a bandeirante’s leather jerkin) and in his talons rifle and a miner's pickaxe. The lower half is green with a bar wavy parted wavy blue and white. On the mural crown is another escutcheon, blue with a gold episcopal staff and crossed arrows. The shield is flanked by braches of coffee. The motto is Bandeirantium Ager. Despite having been created in 1952, the flag has not yet been adopted officially, nor has it been recognized by the federal or state governments.
Sources: www.terradocafe.hpg.ig.com.br, and www.ribeiraonet.com.br.
Joseph McMillan, translation corrected by Francisco Santos, 21 March 2003

See a detailed picture of the coat of arms at www.ribeiraopretoespecial.hpg.ig.com.br. In that site the motto Bandeirantium Ager Francisco Santos, 21 March 2003

The word ribeirãoPreto means "black", a color missing both on the flag and on the arms.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 25 March 2003

Variant Flag

by Joseph McMillan

Variants of this flag exist, at least on the Internet, with some having the stripe running the opposite direction and/or with the stripe white on a blue field. Not surprising for an unofficial flag.
Joseph McMillan, 21 March 2003