The first flag of Peru was created on October 21, 1820 by decree signed by General José de San Martín while he was in Pisco, on his first stop in national territory.
Because the original design made it difficult to reproduce, the old model was changed on March 15 and then on May 31, 1822 by the Marquis of Torre Tagle, always maintaining the emblematic red and white colors. The current flag of Peru was created by law of the Constituent Congress on February 25, 1825 and its use without a shield was regulated on March 31, 1950 to differentiate it from the national flag.
First flag and national shield
On October 21, 1820, two hundred years ago, from his Headquarters in Pisco, General San Martín created the first flag of Peru.
The first flag of Peru was divided by diagonal lines into four fields, the two at the top and bottom being white, and the sides being red, with an oval laurel wreath and a sun inside it, rising from behind the steep mountains that rise above a calm sea.
The shield contained the following objects: the laurel wreaths must be green and tied at the bottom with a gold-colored ribbon, the upper part blue representing the firmament, the sun and its rays yellow, the mountains a dark brown color, and the sea between blue and green.
Bernardo de Tagle's flag
Five months after the first national flag was instituted (March 1822), Bernardo de Tagle, Marquis of Torre Tagle and Supreme Delegate of the Republic, who temporarily replaced San Martín when he traveled to Guayaquil, decreed a new design. The composition established a transversal white red stripe between two red stripes of the same width with a sun in the center. The modification made responded -according to Torre Tagle- among other things, to the inconveniences that the "construction" of the previous flag demanded.
Bernardo de Tagle's second flag
Bernardo de Tagle had given the national flag a provisional character, considering that the moment they lived was not appropriate to dictate definitive norms. Thus, he chose to give the flag another design because it was confused from afar with that of the Spanish. The new characteristics (three vertical stripes -red at the ends and white in the center- with a red sun in the center) were established on May 31, 1822.
The flag of Peru in 1825
The law established by Bolívar and Congress in 1825 also decreed a new national flag, until then provisional. The flag created by Bernardo de Tagle was then ratified, and it was finally left with three vertical stripes, the outer ones red and the one in the middle white, accompanied by the coat of arms in the middle of the white stripe, which had a crown as a crest and was surrounded from below by a palm tree on the right and a laurel branch on the left.
The national flag since 1950
Until 1950, the two-coloured flag with a shield in the centre was called the “national flag”. However, some designed it without the aforementioned symbol. In that year, General Manuel Odría, President of Peru, decided to give the national flag a new structure and meaning. Its shape was modified and it was ordered to be used in its definition -as an official lexicon-, as follows: “… rectangular in shape, with the national colours, without a shield in the centre”.
Other flags of Peru
War flag
The War Flag is the national emblem of a single model that is given to the Armed Forces and National Police for ceremonies, parades, and to distinguish them when they are active. It is composed of the national flag with the National Shield in the center. Each unit carries this flag as a banner with the name of its unit in golden letters in the form of an arch below the National Shield.
In cases of war or armed conflict, military and police institutions carry the War Flag.
National Flag
The National Flag is the flag of the Peruvian State. It consists of the national flag with the Coat of Arms in the center.
Until 1950, the flag and flag were made the same, but with the modification of Manuel Odría, the flag became the state flag.
National Banner
The portable National Flag, on its pole, is called the banner. Its use is mandatory for all educational centers and for official organizations that are not armed forces.
Peru has the experience you were looking for
Interested in culture? Then you are in the right place! Learn about the history of Peru through its museums. Lima offers you such a variety that they will easily cover all your expectations.
Cusco and Machu Picchu are like two sides of the same coin. Inseparable. Cusco, the navel of the world, was the center of operations of the Inca Empire. It is full of buildings that represent its power: the Koricancha, the Palace of Pachacutec and around it Sacsayhuamán, Qenko and Tambomachay, to name just a few.
Machu Picchu is an architectural jewel, a resting place for royalty, a political, religious and administrative center. Its complexity is based on being able to consolidate in one place everything necessary for the life of the Inca… and do it almost at the top of a mountain. Can you imagine that view? What are you waiting for to experience it?
