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San José (Uruguay)

image by Blas Delgado Ortiz and Francisco Gregoric, 19 Jun 2005

Description of the flag
Coat of arms

See also:

Other sites:

San José Department Government website (Information about the flag and Coat of Arms)
reported by Francisco Gregoric, 26 May 2005

San José Department legislative body, showing the flag (also here, here and clicking in the name of each legislator here)
reported by Dov Gutterman, 11 Dec 2001

Description of the flag

This is how the flag should look like. The number of stars is hypothetical, but shall stand for the number of municipalities within the Department. I had no luck in getting the exact number.
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 30 Dec 2001

According to http://www.imsj.gub.uy/bandera.htm, the flag was chosen in a contest made because of an initiative of local legislator Oscar Sánchez Fabre. The winner of this contest and designer of the flag was Claudio Trinajtich. The colors are the Artiguist ones. According to the website, the red stands for the blood shed defending the motherland and its independence. The blue is the motherland's sky and the white the purity (the white appears in the small stars).

At center the sun (the same of the Uruguayan National Flag), that gives light and energy. And there are 40 small white stars (pointing up) that stand for the 40 families that founded San Jose de Mayo.
Francisco Gregoric, 26 May 2005

The flag was adopted through Resolution 2803/99, which led to Decree 2852/99 on 20 September 1999. As read in its Article 1:
Adopt as the official flag of the Department the following design resulting from the Contest realized to its end: a blue stripe and one red in horizontal form [red is above]; to the center the sun of the national flag surrounded by fourty white stars of five points.
Source: https://portal.juntasanjose.gub.uy/web/documents/Decretos/d2/Decreto%202852.pdf

Photo of flag at https://sanjose.gub.uy/1-de-junio-aniversario-de-la-fundacion-de-san-jose/

Daniel Rentería, 11 November 2025

Coat of arms

image by Daniel Rentería, 11 November 2025
from https://www.sau.org.uy/comunicado-intendencia-de-san-jose

The coat of arms was adopted officially on 19 October 1926, being approved by the departmental council. It was designed by council deputy Ricardo A. Gómez Gavazzo, who presented it before the council. Of a shield outlined in blue, it has a ribbon above in gold reading SAN JOSÉ DE MAYO as the capital city; the shield is divided horizontally into two halves. The upper half depicts the sun rising over a white field, with the lower half depicting the flag of Artigas (blue-white-blue with red diagonal band from top-left to bottom-right). Clearly, it is the Sun of May rising over the ocean (the Rio de la Plata). Above the flag of Artigas, two laurel branches with two crossed white swords are seen, signifying the victories of the cause under Artigas.

Daniel Rentería, 11 November 2025