Artigas Department (Uruguay)

Departamento de Artigas

Last modified: 2025-12-06 by rob raeside
Keywords: artigas | artigas (josé gervasio) | departamento de artigas |
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• Presentation
• Description of the flag
• Coat of arms

• Uruguay
• Departments of Uruguay
• Municipalities in Artigas

• Government official website
  reported by Valentin Poposki, 20 May 2007
• information about Artigas Department flag at the Government official website (in Spanish) reported by Valentin Poposki, 20 May 2007

The Artigas Department, with an area of 11,928 km² and 78,019 inhabitants, is the northernmost department of Uruguay. Its capital is Artigas.
Valentin Poposki, 20 May 2007

Department of Artigas, Uruguay, has a flag. It is described in its official website.
Valentin Poposki, 20 May 2007

The flag was designed by the architect Hugo Ferreira Quirós. It is a white field, having at the bottom a blue stripe taking 1/3 of the flag's height. The upper third has 10 imaginary bands, which then turn into 8 alternating bands of blue and white reminiscent of the National Flag. Roughly 7 percent of the flag's width separates a red triangle from the hoist, facing to the right. The same red triangle has a hole near the top, through which the 8 alternating bands go through. The colors of red, white, and blue are reminiscent of the Artigas flag, as José Gervasio Artigas is its namesake and a revolutionary hero. The oval is representative of the wealth of its land especially with agate stones. The displaced triangle represents Artigas as having a border with two different nations, Argentina and Brazil. The lower blue stripe is for the waterways of the department.

Daniel Rentería, 9 November 2025

Coat of arms

image by Daniel Rentería, 9 November 2025
from https://www.facebook.com/intendenciadepartamentalde.artigas

The coat of arms was approved on 12 July 1964, being designed by Walter F. Planke. It is a white shield with three points at the top, the ones on the sides being flat and the central one rounded. In the center of the shield, another shield is displayed which has its background as the flag of Artigas, recognizing the revolutionary hero as the namesake of the department (three bands of blue-white-blue with a diagonal red band from top-left to bottom-right). The lower left depicts a cow over grass for ranching; the upper-right depicts rice and sugarcane together representing the primary agricultural industry here. To the right, wavy lines represent the confluence of the Cuareim and Uruguay rivers, with factory chimneys over them for industry. Cresting the inner shield is a ribbon reading ARTIGAS in black over silver. Just above, a lapwing appears watching, and is in front of a sun recognizing the National Flag. To the sides of the inner shield, indigenous tools used by the Charrúa Indians are seen: to the left, a bow and machete; to the right, a lance with pennant and a hammer; and to the bottom, numerous arrows.

Daniel Rentería, 9 November 2025