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Pará (Brazil)

Last modified: 2022-05-21 by ian macdonald
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[Flag of Pará (Brazil)] 7:10 image by Željko Heimer


See also:

Flag of the State of Pará

The white stripe is the imaginary "planetary belt" representing the zodiac. The star is of magnitude 1.0 and belongs to the constellation of Virgo. The red color symbolizes the vigor that is in the blood of the Paraense people.
Željko Heimer, 13 Mar 1996

The Republic was proclaimed in Pará on 16 November 1889. The following year, the municipalities of the state accepted the proposal of Governor Arturo Indio do Brazil to recognize the flag of the Republican Club as the official flag of the city of Belém. Afterwards the traditional republican symbol was adopted as the flag of the state. In it, the red symbolizes the revolutionary victory, valor, and blood, and the white band suggests a planetary belt representing the zodiac. The star symbolizes the constellation of Virgo.
Jaume Ollé, 28 June 1996

Information on the flag of Pará can be found at the official state website, http://www.pa.gov.br/conheca2.htm and "http://www.pa.gov.br/conheca4.htm.
"Elso," 13 February 2000

According to information at www.brasilrepublica.hpg.ig.com.br, the flag was approved by the Pará state legislature on 3 June 1890 (but see below). It flew for the first time on the occasion of Pará's accession to the Republic of Brazil on 16 November 1889 as the symbol of the Paraense Republican Club. On 10 April 1890, the municipal council of Belém approved a proposal making the club's emblem the flag of the municipality of Belém. The decree that finally transformed the municipal flag into the state flag read as follows:

The flag which served as the emblem of the Paraense Republican Club before the proclamation of the Republic, and which was adopted as the flag of the municipality at the session of 10 April 1890, is hereby to be considered the flag of the State of Pará.
According to this site, the white stripe not only represents the belt of the Zodiac but also the equator and the Amazon River. The star, part of the constellation of Virgo, is also known as Spica, and symbolizes the position of Pará above the equatorial line, just as on the national flag Pará's star is the only one placed above the stripe inscribed Ordem e Progresso. The red field is for "the strength of Paraense blood, which runs through our veins as a true spirit of harmonized struggle, giving proof of the dedication of our patriots to the causes of Paraense support for Independence and for the Republic. The design of the flag is attributed to the republican Philadelfo Condurú.
Joseph McMillan, 10 July 2002

Early Variant Flag

Early Variant Flag of Pará (Brazil) image by Joseph McMillan

Pará used a different flag in 1889-1890.
Jaume Ollé, 8 December 1999

Clóvis Ribeiro (1933) agrees that Pará adopted and used a flag similar to that shown above, but contends that it was not red with a white diagonal stripe and star, like the current state flag, but a vertical triband, red-white-red, with a blue star on the center. The text of the decree gives us no help, since it does not describe the flag in any way. Secondly, Ribeiro says that, although legislation to adopt this flag was passed by the state chamber of deputies on 3 June 1898 [sic], it was rejected by the state senate on the urging of the governor, who did not believe states should have symbols. As a result, Ribeiro concludes that the flag was still unofficial in 1933. On the other hand, on plate 23 Ribeiro shows the state coat of arms as it is presently, and says it was officially adopted by law 918 of 9 November 1903, the same time [he says] that the Senate rejected the proposed flag. The current flag is essentially a banner of these arms. He goes on to say that the coat of arms was already in de facto use as early as 1901, with the national flag and the vertical version of the Pará flag as "supporters." Tentatively, I think we can conclude that Pará used a flag, at least de facto and possibly de jure from 1890 until President Vargas abolished state symbols in 1937, and again from some time in the late 1940s to the present; and that the vertically striped flag shown by Ribeiro was at least a variant if not the only flag used up to the 1930s.
Joseph McMillan, 2 September 2002


Civil Police flag

[Civil Police] image located by Ivan Sache, 23 April 2022
Source: Manual de Identidade Visual da Polícia Civil do Pará

Here is the flag of the Civil Police of the State of Para, as described and shown in PDF document "Manual de Identidade Visual da Policia Civil do Estado do Para".

A Bandeira da Polícia Civil do Estado do Pará, símbolo augusto da instituição, fará remissão a motivos ínsitos à Bandeira do Estado do Pará e às cores da Polícia Civil, apresentando em seu núcleo o Brasão D’Armas da instituição ostentado sobre fundo constituído de três listras horizontais, sendo as duas da extremidade na cor preta, e branca a do centro, medindo cada uma 30 cm (trinta centímetros) de altura. O pavilhão obedecerá a proporção de 90cm (noventa centímetros) de altura, por 125cm (cento e vinte e cinco centímetros) de largura, podendo ser tais medidas reduzidas ou ampliadas, desde que observada a proporcionalidade das dimensões.

[Translated: The Flag of the Civil Police of the State of Pará, an august symbol of the institution, will refer to motifs inherent to the Flag of the State of Pará and to the colors of the Civil Police, presenting at its core the institution's Coat of Arms displayed on a background consisting of three horizontal stripes, the two above and below being black, and the center white, each measuring 30 cm (thirty centimeters) in height. The pavilion will obey the proportion of 90 cm (ninety centimeters) in height, by 125 cm (one hundred and twenty-five centimeters) in width, and such measures may be reduced or enlarged, provided that the proportionality of the dimensions is observed.]

Valentin Poposki
, 21 April 2022

The coat of arms of the Civil Police of the state of Pará shall have the following characteristics.
A Germanic shield in yellow as featured in the Visual Identity Manual, charged which a golden five-pointed star, with details of the flag of the state of Pará in the center: a circle gules (red) divided by a white band charged with a five-pointed star azure (blue).
The star and its content are surrounded by a perfect circular stripe azure (blue) with the inscriptions in white letters: "POLÍCIA CIVIL DO ESTADO DO PARÁ" in the upper hemisphere, and "DO BRASIL, SENTINELA DO NORTH" in the lower hemisphere, separated by a white star on each side.
Above and below the central emblem are two yellow scrolls with the inscriptions "POLÍCIA" and "CIVIL", respectively, in black letters. Just below, near the border of the shield, the acronym "PA" in black letters.

http://www.policiacivil.pa.gov.br/sites/default/files/manual_de_identidade_visual_parte_1_0.pdf
Manual de Identidade Visual da Polícia Civil do Pará
Ivan Sache, 23 April 2022