![[Posadas municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-n-po.gif)
Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
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image by Ivan Sache, 13 Dec 2014
The municipality of Posadas (275,029 inhabitants in 2010) is located on the left bank of river Paraná, in the extreme southwest of Misiones Province, 350 km of Asunción (Paraguay) and 1000 km of Buenos Aires City.
Posadas is the administrative capital and most populated town of the province; the municipalities of Garupá, Candelaria and Posadas form Greater Posadas (386,357 inh.).
Posadas is connected to the Paraguayan town of Encarnación by the San Roque González de Santa Cruz international bridge (2,500 m in length), inaugurated on 2 April 1990.
Posadas was established on 25 March 1615 by the Jesuit father Roque González de Santa Cruz (1576-1628; canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II), under the name of Reducción de Nuestra Señora de la Anunciación de Itapúa. The settlement was relocated in 1621 across river Paraná, on the today's site of the Paraguayan town of Encarnación.
In 1767, King of Spain Charles III ordered the expelling of the Society of Jesus and established the Misiones colonial province, with Candelaria as its capital. During the Revolution of May 1810, Governor Tomás de Rocamora supported the Buenos Aires independentists; the province was renamed Misiones revolutionary province. In December 1810, General Manuel Belgrano signed the "Regulation for the Misiones Natives", the first draft of a local constitution, and established a garrison in the place named Rinconada de San José, the today's site of Posadas. The treaty signed in 1811 between the governments of Asunción
and Buenos Aires allocated a part of Misiones, Posadas included, to Paraguay. Gervasio Antonio de Posadas established in 1814 the
Corrientes province, to which he incorporated Misiones, soon to be occupied by the Paraguayan army. Andrés Guaçurarí (Andresito) stopped in 1815 the Paraguayan advance south of the Paraná during the battle of Candelaria.
The Supreme and Perpetual Dictator of Paraguay Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (c. 1760-1840) ordered in 1840 the building of Trinchera de San José, a fortified town surrounded by a wall built on the foundations of the old Jesuit walls. The place was eventually
reconquerred on 17 March 1869 by the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay). The Government of Corrientes established on 8 November 1870 the Candelaria Department, with Trinchera de San José as its capital. In 1879, Trinchera de San José was renamed Posadas by the Corrientes Assembly, as a tribute to Gervasio Antonio de Posadas (1757-1833), Supreme Director of the United Provinces of Río de la Plata (1814-1815) and member of the second Triumvirate in 1813. Posadas was subsequently transferred to the Misiones Military Territory, established on 1 January 1882 and transformed into the Misiones Province on 10 December 1953.
The flag of Posadas is vertically divided blue-red (1:2) with a circular yellow emblem centered on the flag's partition.
The flag was selected in a public contest organized by the Councillor Christian Humada on behalf of the Municipal Council. The results were proclaimed on 13 November 2014: the design proposed by Gemma Mariana Rotela won 19,258 votes (49.75%), Jorge Honeker won 6,500 votes, and Tomás Bacchi won 3001 votes.
The flag is expected to be inaugurated in the cloth during the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the town (25 March 2015).
The contest was organized in two steps. A first call, open from 14 April to 4 July 2014, yielded 185 proposals. A jury composed of 14 members selected three finalist designs, which were submitted to citizen's vote in early November.
The three finalist designs are presented in the document "Bases of the three finalist designs, No. 259, No. 002, and No. 105".
image by Ivan Sache, 13 Dec 2014
Red represents Tierra Colorada [the local type of oxisol, lit. coloured earth] while blue represents river Paraná. The 1:2
proportions were not randomly chosen, since they represent the golden ratio or golden proportions, that is, aesthetic proportions pleasant to the viewer. [1:2 is definitively not the golden ratio.]
The emblem is surrounded by a circle made of laurel leaves, representing the natural environment and vegetal production. The upper
part of the circle is made of a handshake, representing union and the supportive meeting of two people and
cultures, the Guarani and the representatives of the Jesuit missions, which is the origin of the first settlement in Posadas. The lower part of the circle is made of an escutcheon charged with an anchor, recalling the significance of the first river port of Posadas for the development of the town.The emblem features in the center the Jesuit sun, forming a disk with a half cogwheel that represents force, production and union. The sun is charged with the cross of the Jesuit missions. The circle is the perfect figure, symbolically representing God, the soul, unity, absolute and protection.
![[Posadas municipal flag proposal]](../images/a/ar-n!p2.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 13 Dec 2014
The flag uses the provincial colours. It features the silhouette of
Andresito, derived from the statue of the local hero erected on the
Costanera [the 8 km-long avenue built along the bank of Paraná; Andresito raises the hand as a sign of victory, saying "I am here and here is my town".
The flag also features the Costanera and the Paraná, as emblematic
elements of the town. The Costanera is a place of social interaction,
recreation, culture, entertainment, tourism, encounter and friendship.
It is the symbol of progress and of a town that looks towards future.
Paraná, represented in blue, is the cradle of the economic development
of the town, as recalled in the song 'Posadeña Linda" [Beauty of
Posadas, written by the Posadas-born folk musician Ramón Ayala.
![[Posadas municipal flag proposal]](../images/a/ar-n!p3.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 13 Dec 2014
The flag is based on the provincial flag [description and history
skipped], with the colours arranged vertically instead of horizontally.
The red stripe recalls the colour of the soil (Tierra Colorada;
Guarani, Yvy Pytã). Red is a symbol of confidence, courage, optimism
and passion. The blue stripe is a symbol of knowledge, faith, truth
and integrity. The white stripe is a symbol of purity, peace and
comfort.
The white stripe is charged with a _ mburucuyá_, the passion flower
(_Passiflora_ spp.). A Guarani legend tells that a priest saved a
child from a jaguar by offering his own life to the beast; soon after
the event, a passion tree grew from the soil shed with the priest's
blood to recall his sacrifice. The aforementioned song by Ramón Ayala
names Posadas "a small _ mburucuyá__ flower". On the flag, the flower
has 16 points and includes a 17-pointed central star, representing the
17 departments that form the Misiones province. The central star also
represents the Capital department, while the 16 points of the flower
represent the 16 other departments.
Yellow represents the sun. Red represents federalism and the the local
soil.
Ivan Sache, 13 Dec 2014
The flag was eventually inaugurated on 28 July 2015, during the
celebration of the 131st anniversary of the erection of Posadas as the
capital of the Province of Misiones by Law No. 1,437, adopted on 28
July 1884 by the National Congress.
Blessed by His Grace Juan Rubén Martínez, Bishop of Posadas, the flag
was ceremoniously hoisted on a big mast erected on Belgrano Square, at
the intersection of Uruguay Street and Mitre Street. The ceremony,
presided by the Vice Governor of the Province of Misiones, Hugo
Passalacqua, and by the Mayor of Posadas, Orlando Franco, was attended
by representatives of the educational institutes, of the armed forces,
of the police, and of the national, provincial and municipal
administration. Gemma Rotela, the flag's designer, was also invited to
the ceremony.
Ivan Sache, 03 Aug 2015
