Last modified: 2024-05-11 by ian macdonald
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image by Joseph McMillan
On the wallpaper of the Belo Horizonte municipal site, a black and white image
of the city hall with flags flying, the municipal flag appears to be the coat of arms on a
white field.
Joe McMillan, 5 February 2001
I have found two separate photographs on line confirming that the flag of Belo Horizonte is
white with the municipal coat of arms. One of these shows the prefecture building with
three flags flying on it, the center and highest that of Brazil, the one on the
right that of the state of Minas Gerais, and the one on the left a white flag
with an indistinguishable coat of arms. The other is the opening ceremony of
a meeting of the Belo Horizonte Rotary Club, with a display of flags identified
as those of Brazil, Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, and the club. That for Belo
Horizonte is clearly a white field with a mural crown, leading me to conclude
that the flag is as depicted above.
Joseph McMillan, 28 June 2002
The coat of arms of the city of Belo Horizonte was instituted in 1937 and
since then has undergone a series of successive changes by decree. On the basis
of historic and bibliographic research, law no. 6938/95 of 19 August 1995
restored the basic original design but in a more classically heraldic rendition.
According to chapter 2 of that law, the coat of arms is described as:
"a Portuguese shield, remembering the origin of the Brazilian nationality,
on a field azure a rising sun or emerging from the sinister side of the
Curral D`el Rei mountains vert. On a chief or, an equilateral triangle
gules, symbol of the aspirations of the Inconfidência Mineira
of 1789.
On a scroll gules, in silver letters, the inscriptions (to dexter) 17-12-1893
and (to sinister) 12-12-1897, the dates respectively of the creation of the city
and of its installation as the new capital of Minas Gerais, flanking the
name Belo Horizonte. For crest, a [gold] mural crown of five towers, the attribute
reserved to a state capital."
The coat of arms is more or less canting, with the mountain sunrise being used to depict
the name "beautiful horizon."
Source: Website
of the municipal council.
Joseph McMillan, 29 June 2002
image by António Martins-Tuválkin,
16 April 2024
A proposal for a new flag is presented at Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology with a link to the original
proposal:
https://g1.globo.com. The flag is clearly derived from the city arms.
Tomislav Todorovic, 16 April 2024
The news article says that a decision about a new flag will be reached
only after a sort of referendum (consulta popular) to be held on
2024.10.06. It says that in 2023 grassroots circulation of Gabriel
Figueiredo’s new flag proposal (likely meaning the Reddit post reported by
Tomislav) was noticed by members of the municipal parliament, who proceded to
schedule the late 2024 local referendum.
This article (very likely
also based on Reddit) quotes Ted Kaye’s five principles for a good flag
design, which is a first, as far as I know, both outside vexillological
circles and outside the English speaking world.
This flag proposal by
graphic designer Gabriel Figueiredo and transposes on to a 8:11 flag cloth
(the same ratio as the national flag) a stylized rendering of the main area
of the municipal coat of arms: It is diagonally divided in medium light blue
(upper fly) and green (lower fly), with a half of a golden yellow 16-ray sun
(with alternating straight and wavy rays) halved by the diagonal partition so
that it shows (with only 8 visible rays) only on the blue area. This makes it
a canting flag, as the phrase "belo horizonte" means "beautiful
horizon" or "fairscape".
António Martins-Tuválkin, 16 April 2024
