![[Flag of Santa Fe, New Mexico]](../images/u/us-nmsfe-l.gif)
2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucciimage(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright.
Last modified: 2018-08-02 by rick wyatt
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2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags,
Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological
Association, which retains copyright.
See also:
Text and image(s) from American City Flags, Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) from American City Flags by permission of David B. Martucci.
The field of Santa Fe’s flag is yellow with the city’s seal in its
center. The seal consists of a narrow blue circle around a white field.
Immediately within this circle, running clockwise around the seal from
its base is the complete name of the city in Spanish, in a Flat Brush-type
font: La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís. Within the
circle of lettering is a heraldic “American” shield divided so that the top
portion bears on its fly half the principal charge of the arms of Mexico
(in a 19th-century version): an eagle with a serpent in its beak perched
on a nopal cactus, all in a blue silhouette on white. The hoist half shows
a portion of the arms of Spain, a yellow turreted castle in silhouette on
a red field on the hoist side, and a silhouetted upright red lion, on the
fly side. The lower part of the shield is the modified American blazon,
13 white five-pointed stars (staggered 7 above and 6 below) on dark
blue, over 13 vertical stripes (7 red, 6 white). Below the shield is a white
heraldic ribbon, edged in blue and folded in thirds. On the three sections
appear, in blue: 1610 at the hoist, 1846 in the center, and 1821 at
the fly. Emanating from behind the shield in a circle are 85 short gold
rays, appearing to be scalloped, since every fifth ray is longer. Several
rays are hidden by the shield’s upper corners and the center portion of
the heraldic ribbon.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10, 2002-2003
Ralph Emerson Twitchell, at the time a former
mayor of the city, proposed the design to the city council on the date of
its adoption. On 19 March 1915 his design had been adopted as the
first official state flag of New Mexico.
Flag adopted: 20 September 1915 (official).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10, 2002-2003
Not specified; presumably former Mayor Twitchell.
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
![[Flag of Santa Fe, New Mexico]](../images/u/us-nmsfe2-l.gif)
2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags,
Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological
Association, which retains copyright.
The current version of the flag
in use differs from that specified
in the ordinance of adoption:
it now uses a field of white
instead of gold. The city’s seal
according to that ordinance
consists only of the shield and
heraldic ribbon and is termed a “heraldic seal”. The ordinance further
specifies that on the front side of the flag shall be delineated in painting,
printing, or embroidery an ideal representation or portrait of St. Francis of
Assisi with the legend, in crimson: SAN FRANCISCO DE ASSISI … It
is not known if such a flag was ever manufactured, but the current
version has only the city’s seal on both sides, a much less expensive
rendering than would be the case with a double-sided flag. Moreover,
the ordinance stipulates 1606 as the date of the city’s founding by Don
Juan de Oñate, the first Spanish governor-general of New Mexico.
Historians now generally accept that the city was founded in 1610 when
his successor, Don Pedro de Peralta, moved his capital to the site of
today’s city. The illustration accompanying the ordinance shows the
date on the fly third of the ribbon as 1822, but it is correctly 1821 in
the text of the ordinance. Also, the Mexican emblem is shown in its
original colors of brown (for the eagle) and green (for the serpent and
nopal ).
John M. Purcell, American City Flags,
Raven
9-10,
2002-2003
![[Flag of Santa Fe, New Mexico]](../images/u/us-nmsfeo-l.gif)
2:3 image(s) by permission of David B. Martucci
image(s) from American City Flags,
Raven 9-10 (2002-2003), courtesy of the North American Vexillological
Association, which retains copyright.
![[Arms of Santa Fe, New Mexico]](../images/u/us-nm)sf.gif)
image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 May 2008
The city coat of arms (at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mage:SantaFeNMseal.jpg and in many other locations) is filled with the U.S. coat of arms (but with stars on its chief) and a chief impaled of "Old Spain" and what I supposed to be Mexico: white with a blue eagle on wreath pattern; "Old Spain" is per pale Gules and Or a castle tower and a lion rampant counter changed. At www.santafenm.gov/PhotoView.asp?PHID=136 a very large image shows a city police sleeve patch with the city coat of arms (with red eagle instead, though).
Around the shield there's usually the wording "La Villa Real de Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís", but on the NAVA flag image (where the long name shows in uchronic insular letters) there's a halo around the shield, and a scroll below it, with the long name around it all.
A b/w representation of the coat of arms as shown on the flag is in the official site at nm-santafe.civicplus.com/DocumentView.asp?DID=1284, a PDF entitled
Agreement between the City of Santa Fe and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (and surely in many other such documents).
At www.santafenm.gov/images/favicon.ico the official website favicon shows a logo consisting of a black bend crossed over a blue counterbend below a red disc, in informal brush script style. I would not be surprised to see this on a flag, too.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 27 May 2008
