Capital District historical flags and arms (Venezuela) (original) (raw)

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Distrito Capital

Standard of the Municipality of Caracas (1826)
Caracas Veterans Regiment Flag
Evolution of the Coat of Arms

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Standard of the Municipality of Caracas (1826)

image by Raul Orta, 15 May 2002

Standard of the Municipality of Caracas, (1826): consisted of a swallowtail contour vertically oriented with the colors red, blue and yellow bearing on the center the Great Colombia coat of arms ornate with a pennant over the chief which show the inscription "MUNICIPALIDAD DE CARACAS" (Municipality of Caracas) and the number "1826", everything in Roman letters. The illustration is a representation of the original one that still is exhibited in the Caracas Museum of the Libertador Municipality Mayor Office.
Raul Orta, 15 May 2002

Caracas Veterans Regiment Flag

image by Guillermo Aveledo, 4 October 1999

According to 1981 edition of "Los Simbolos Sagrados de la Nacion Venezolana", by Francisco A. Vargas : "In as much as the Regimental flags was concerned, they were to made out of taffeta [I am not sure if this was common at the time, but I believe taffeta is a most impractical cloth type; perhaps they were merely ceremonial, and not battle flags. Given the action these regiments saw, I believe so], and with the main colours used by the respective province's Arms or of the City where the regiment was quartered. Following the precepts of the House of Borbon, by an official notice of 1734, it was ordered that every regiment had three flags, all on white taffeta [the House of Borbon colour]: the "Coronela", with the Royal Coat of Arms [perhaps like the Spanish War Ensign of the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, but without the triband , which was substituted by a white field] centered on it, and the other two with the Borgona Cross [or "Burgundy" Cross, perhaps]; on their four corners, the Coat of Arms of the Province and the Crown, and, on the two top quarters, the name of the regiment itself" [as shown with the Caraquenian Regiment's flag] (pages 28-29).

The flag of the "Veteranos de Caracas" was used even at the begginning of the Independence war (until the arrival of Continental Spanish troops, led by General Morillo). Caracas Regiment served not only on the Capital City of Caracas,but the whole province of Caracas, which ranged
for the greatest portion of Venezuela's Capitanía General. This flag, as you can see, corresponds to the description above: white (Borbon [or Bourbon] House) field, Borgona Cross (not burgundy, but red), the Royal coat of arms (Crown, Castle and Lion, red-yellow), and the coat of arms of Caracas at the time [Caracas' coat of arms carved on stone, ca. 1730; found on a public fountain].
Guillermo Aveledo, 4 October 1999

Evolution of the Coat of Arms

Ancient image of Caracas coat of arms

acold.gif) image by Guillermo Aveledo, 4 October 1999

Image from the original "Colecci�n de armas y blasones de Indias (English: Arms and Coats of Arms of the (West) Indies) (1767) (Manuscript) by Fernando Mart�nez de Huete" (source:http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000087354&page=1 located by Esteban Rivera, 9 July 2023

Coat of arms in use 1591-1767

ccs01.gif) image located by Esteban Rivera, 9 July 2023

Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escudo_de_Caracas

Coat of arms in use 1767-2022

ccs02-2.gif) image located by Esteban Rivera, 9 July 2023

Source: https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Caracas