Last modified: 2006-08-19 by antonio martins
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On 1820-10-21 General José de San Martín issued in Pisco the decree that fixed the national flag. The literal text was as follows:
Will be adopted as national flag of the country one of silk or linen eight foot long by six broad, divided by diagonal lines in four fields, white the two extremes superior and inferior, and flesh-colored the lateral two, with an oval-shaped laurel wreath, and within that a sun setting over snowed mountains above a quiet sea. The shield can be painted or embroidery, but preserving each object their colors, to know: the laurel wreath to be green and tied in the lower part with a ribbon of gold color; blue the upper part that represents the sky; yellow the sun with its beams; the mountains of an dark brown color, and the sea between blue and green.Source: American Hispanic Encyclopedia; the blue color is applied to the snowfall mountains as reflex of the sky. Ratio 6:8.
[Note: "flesh-colored" here means simply "red". — ed.]
It was created by General José de San Martín,
Liberator of Peru, Chile and his native Argentina.
In September 8th, 1820 when General San Martín
arrived to the port city of Pisco with the
Libertarian Expedition, he saw a flock of flamingos
and they inspired him the colours and design of the
flag. The coat of arms, similar to the Argentinean
Republic, shows the Pacific Ocean, the Andes and
the sun of the Incas and it is surrounded by a
wreath of laurel.
Miguel Gómez-Arboccó, 21 Aug 1999
From the Encyclopaedia of Flags & Coats of Arms, by L. Mucha, 1985 [mch85]:
Red symbolizes the blood of those who fought for freedom and white stands for justice and peace. The flag was introduced in 1825. Its designer, Captain General José de San Martin, was inspired by a number of flamingoes in flight, which he considered to be a good omen, and he designed a flag in red and white for his Peruvian Legion.
Jarig Bakker, 25 Apr 2001
The Peruvian Ensign in the British Admiralty manuscript flag book of 1845,
now in the British Royal Naval Museum Library, Portsmouth,
http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/library/library.htm
(broken link as of 22 Feb 2005, Ivan Sache),
is similar to this image.
David Prothero, 14 Jun 2003
This flag on display at the Fuerte Real Felipe
museum in Callao, near Lima, run by the army.
Jan-Patrick Fischer, 15 Mar 2001
We have other slightly different versions of this same flag.
Perhaps we should put up a gallery… I’m ready to bet that the photo
depicts not the original flag but a much later day cloth reconstruction
displayed in a Museum for worship and not for scholarship.
António Martins, 09 Oct 2002
I believe that this is only one of the versions of this flag. All versions
known are close but not exactly equal, surely because the original flags also
were slighty differents. The rendition of the arms in early XIX century was
not standarized and they were embrodoined mainly from writen heraldic
description.
Jaume Ollé, 14 Jun 2003
The flag at
http://www.billiken.com.ar/historia/bhi_t06_n23b.htm
(broken link as of 22 Feb 2005, Ivan Sache),
which is a rendition of the first flag of Peru, which does not look exactly
the same as the others.
Olivier Touzeau, 09 Oct 2002
The flag at
http://www.peru.com/otros_especiales/fiestas_patrias_2002/historia/images/Bandera_historia.gif
is quite different.
Dov Gutterman, 14 Jun 2003
This is the only version to show an open wreath.
António Martins, 03 Nov 2003
Anything below this line was not added by the editor of this page.
