![[Embalse municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-x-em.gif)
Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
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image by Ivan Sache, 10 Aug 2013
The municipality of Embalse (15,400 inhabitants in 2010) is located in Calamuchita Valley, 100 km south of Córdoba Province.
Embalse (lit., Reservoir) is located near the bigger man-made lake (5,600 ha) established in Córdoba Province. The date of foundation of the town is 10 December 1911, the day when Exequiel Ramos Mejías, Minister of Civil Engineering, laid down the cornerstone of the dam on river Tercero. Built by the English company in charge of the Argentine Central Railways to protect the railways from flooding, the dam was abandoned in 1917. Engineers Juan Carlos Alba Posse and Santiago Enrique Fitz Simon were commissioned to revamp and increase the dam; it took nearly ten years (1927 to 1936) to achieve the project. The dam is 50 m in height and 360 m in width; a tower of 40 m in height supplies water to a 15,000 hp power plant. The dam's overflow outlet is 300 m in width.
The flag of Embalse is vertically divided blue-green with a half sun in the middle.
The blue half represents the lake and the sky, while the green part represents the natural environment.
The sun represents the nation and the features of the main activities of Embalse: production of energy.
The flag was selected among 25 proposals submitted to a public contest open to the town's pupils and students. The six designs proposed by Lorena Matar, María Laura Luján, the Embalse Volunteer Firefighters Cadets, Loana Torres, Eric Flores and Esther Gil were short-listed. The design by Loana Torres - 8 years old - was eventually proclaimed the new flag of Embalse.
Ivan Sache, 10 Aug 2013
![[Los Cóndores municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-x-lc.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 21 May 2017The municipality of Los Cóndores
(2,964 inhabitants in 2015) is located in the Calamuchita Department, 70 km
south-east of Villa General Belgrano and 120 km of Córdoba.
Los Cóndores
emerged around a railway station established in 1913 by the Central Argentine
Railways on the Córdoba-Río Cuarto line. The village was originally named for
the station, Km 30.450. Subsequently known as El Tala and Modesto Acuña, the
village was eventually renamed to Los Cóndores in 1929. The name alludes to the
geographical location of the place, close to mountains inhabited by condors.
http://www.vgb.com.ar/los-condores.html - VGB portal
The flag of Los
Cóndores was designed in October 2016 by the Association of Volunteer
Firefighters of the town, winner of a public contest organized by the
municipality. The contest yielded 24 submissions.
https://cordobainteriorinforma.com/2016/10/10/los-condores-ya-tiene-bandera-propia/
- Córdoba Interior Informa, 10 October 2016
http://www.tribunadigital.com.ar/los-condores-tiene-bandera - Tribuna
Digital, 11 October 2016
Ivan Sache, 21 May 2017
![[Villa General Belgrano municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-x-gb.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 18 September 2021
The municipality of Villa General Belgrano (locally, VGB; 8,257 inhabitants
in 2010) is located 80 km south of Córdoba.
Villa General Belgrano was
established in 1929, as Colonia Paraje "El Sauce" (At the Willow's Colony), by
two German immigrants, Paul Heintze and Jorge Kappuhn. Renamed to Villa
Calamuchita in 1938, the village welcomed several immigrants from Central
Europe (Germans, Swiss, Hungarians, Czechoslovak, Austrians) to establish a
colony dedicated to agriculture and cattle-breeding. The project failed because
of the harsh environment, but the settlers did not give up. After the visit of
a group of German vacationers from Buenos Aires attracted by the beautiful
landscape of the area, they built a town in typical Bavarian style. The town
was renamed to Villa General Belgrano in 1941.
The municipality of Villa
General Belgrano, established in 1953, held its first Beer Festival on 12
October 1957, an event registered as of provincial significance in 1967 and
renamed to Beer National Festival in 1980. Mostly known as Oktoberfest like its
German model, the festival attracts every year more than 150,000 people. The
town is also host of the Viennese Pastry National Festival, organized during
the Holy Week, and of the Alpine Chocolate Festival, organized in July during
winter vacations.
https://villageneralbelgrano.gob.ar/
Municipal website
The name
change from El Sauce to Villa Calamuchita was prompted by problems in mail
delivery, mail being often misdirected to another village named El Sauce.
The second name change is connected to an event that occurred on 9 July 1941 in
the town. A national flag - other sources say two or three flags - were burned
down during the national day. The case was never elucidated. Some say that the
flag(s) were burned German seamen held in legal control in the town after the
scuttling of the cruiser "Admiral Graf Spee" in Montevideo, in the aftermath of
the battle of the River Plate. German settlers who had abused beer were also
presented as culprits. A third explanation invokes inhabitants of the
neighboring village of Santa Rosa upset by the "privatization" of the name of
the valley by the inhabitants of Villa Calamuchita. The local newspapers
campaigned against the German seamen; three of them, allegedly seen drunk, were
soon arrested and jailed. They admitted having caused some trouble in a pub but
denied any involvement in the flag desecration, and were eventually released.
Local historians do not believe in the seamen' guiltiness, since they were
known as respectful for law and order. They were rather presented as usual
suspects by those who actually committed the outrage.
The event prompted the
governor of Córdoba to rename the town for the hero of independence and
designer of the national flag, General Manuel Belgrano (1770-1820).
https://www.lavoz.com.ar/calamuchita/otro-nombre-bandera-quemada/
La
Voz, 19 October 2012
The flag of Villa General Belgrano is diagonally
divided from lower hoist to upper fly. The upper triangle is horizontally
divided celestial blue-white. The lower triangle is red, charged in base with
an edelweiss-shaped sun inscribing a heart, all white.
Celestial blue
and white are the colors of the national flag and of the sky over Villa General
Belgrano.
Red is the color of the gabled roofs of the buildings of the
downtown, used by the main European communities of the town.
The sun,
similar to an edelweiss flower, recalls the municipal coat of arms and is
featured on the national and provincial flags.
The heart represents people's
hospitality and the first immigrants who established the town's early identity
in the country's heart center.
The petals, like the wind-rose, represent the
cardinal points..
The flag was unveiled on 8 September 2021 by the jury
of the public contest "Una Bandera para VGB" (A Flag for VGB) organized by the
municipality. The jury, presided by Mayor Oscar Santarelli, was composed of 21
members: the president of the Municipal Council, representatives of political
groups, of administrations, of public and privates bodies and association, and
of the boroughs that compose the municipality. External assessors were Cristian
Baquero Lazcano, designer of the flag of the province of Córdoba, and Jonathan
Correa, university technician.
Each member of the jury was invited to select
three preferred proposals among the 20 submitted designs. The final ranking
was:
1. Proposal by Alberto Seibert, 52 points
2. Proposal by Walter
Mauricio Campos, 37 points
3. Proposal by Erica Wilneder, 36 points.
Alberto "Berti" Seibert is an emblematic citizen of Villa General Belgrano,
known as one of the town's most talented accordion players and best performer
of the Oktoberfest anthem.
https://municipalidadvgb.gob.ar/villa-general-belgrano-tiene-bandera-propia/
Municipal website, 9 September 2021
https://www.cadena3.com/noticia/radioinforme-3/villa-general-belgrano-ya-tiene-su-propia-bandera_304124
Cadena 3, 10 September 2021
The public contest was prescribed by
Ordinance No. 2,096 issued on 10 June 2021 by the Municipal Council. Proposals
had to be submitted before 30 August 2021.
http://vgb.gov.ar/municipalidad/post-hcd/2096-21-concurso-de-creacion-de-la-bandera-de-vgb/
Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 18 September 2021
