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Pichincha Province (Ecuador)

Provincia de Pichincha

Last modified: 2021-08-26 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: ecuador | pichincha | quito |
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image by Antonio Martins, 8 January 2003


Cantons of Pichincha:

See also:

External links:


About Pichincha Province

Pichincha is a province in northern central area of Ecuador, and belongs to Sierra region. It includes the capital Quito.
Željko Heimer, 15 Jul 1996

Pichincha province (2,576,287 inhabitants; 96,120 ha) is located in the north of the country.
Ivan Sache, 18 September 2018


Description of the flag

The flag of Pichincha was adopted on 8 May 1979 by the province government. The flag is divided into two vertical parts, the one golden yellow and the other red. In the center of the flag is placed the coat of arms, which shows a sun surrounded by nine stars symbolizing the union and power of the nine cantons that originally composed the province.
http://www.pichincha.gob.ec/pichincha/simbolos
Canton website
Ivan Sache, 18 September 2018

Note that in pichincha.gov.ec, the flag is charged with the Coat of Arms.
Falko Schmidt, 29 October 2002

Falko Schmidt reported from a government website what seems to be legal text prescribing the version with the arms. This URL is unavailable live but was archived; however the image file was not archived along with the text, which does not refer the flag.
António Martins, 27 Jul 2017


Plain flag

Pichincha flag, plain image by António Martins, 31 Jul 2017

Flag of Pichincha Province.
Jaume Ollé, 08 Sep 1996

It is a yellow and red vertical bicolor, and, as with many such flags, it seems that the official version includes the coat of arms, with this plain design being an unofficial version, tolerated in order to allow inexpensive flag production.
António Martins, 27 Jul 2017

Plain flag in 1:2

Pichincha flag, plain image by António Martins, 27 Jul 2017

Jaume Ollé reported in 1996 an armless 1:2 bicolor of yellow and dark (?) red.
António Martins, 08 Jan 2003

I would say that the exact ratio (and even exact color shades) are scarcely relevant in the context of these simplified variants.
António Martins, 31 Jul 2017


Flag with sun

Pichincha flag, plain image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 26 July 2017

Based on www.edufuturo.com.
Mello Luchtenberg, 26 Jul 2005

It is, like the confirmed design, a yellow and red equal, vertical bicolor. Mello’s image is 1:2, with two squares; on the dividing line there is a sun disc with 18 regular rays pointing up, made of equilateral triangles connected to each other and to the edge of the sun disc, all yellow with black contour lines; in an arc around the sun, from 8 to 4 o’clock, nine white five-pointed regular stars, pointing up; the diameter of the sun disc is slightly less than the 1/3rd of the flag’s height, while the total width of the emblem (from the hoist side tip of the hoist side star to the fly side tip of the fly side star) is just under 2/3rds of the flag’s height. (These exact measurements were either transposed from the original image by Mello or interpreted by him from a non-flat design.)
António Martins, 26 Jul 2017

A sun and a ring of stars are indeed the main elements of the provincial coat of arms. Why would an Ecuadoran provincial flag be showing neither a plain flag nor the same with its emblem but instead this apparent simplification of the latter? I don’t know: It is either another mistaken vexillological report, someone’s musing, or an actual (official) previous or alternate flag.
António Martins, 26 Jul 2017


Flag according to W. Smith (1980)

Pichincha flag, plain image by Željko Heimer, 27 Jul 2017

A yellow and red horizontal bicolor.
António Martins, 26 Jul 2017

Flag according to W. Smith (insecure).
Željko Heimer, 15 Jul 1996

It may be either an incorrect report or a variation — or a combination of both things.
António Martins, 08 Jan 2003

It is, I believe, from [smi82]. It seems to be a case of incorrect reporting or filing, by which vertical become horizontal.
António Martins, 27 Jul 2017


Another wrong flag reported

Pichincha flag, plain image by Jaume Ollé, 27 Jul 2017

A green and red vertical bicolor.
António Martins, 26 Jul 2017

Previously reported wrong flag.
Jaume Ollé, (13 Oct 1997)

It seems to be a case of incorrect reporting or filing, by which yellow become green.
António Martins, 27 Jul 2017


Coat of Arms

Pichincha CoA image from Explored.COM.EC, 26 Jan 2001

Flag and Coat of Arms can be seen at explored.com.ec.
Jarig Bakker, 26 Jan 2001

The coats of arms in Explored.COM.EC and in Pichincha.GOV.EC are different in detail — we’d like to know more on this.
António Martins, 08 Jan 2003

A sun and a ring of stars are the main elements of the provincial coat of arms (though some versions show less than nine stars), which shows also as elements of the shield a background fess patterned after the national flag, two mountain peaks, and a kind of obelisk, along with a condor as single supporter and a scroll patterned after the provincial flag itself, reading "PROVINCIA DEL PICHINCHA" in black capitals.
António Martins, 26 Jul 2017

Each of the elements constitutive of the coat of arms symbolizes the history, identity, culture and nationality of the province. The landscape shows a celestial blue sky crossed horizontally by a scroll in colors representing its nationality. In the center of the scroll is a sun surrounded by nine stars [see above]. The two green heights in the lower part represent the La Marca mountains, an historical site where the pre-Colombian populations celebrated the Equinox Festival; In the foreground, the Mitade del Mundo monument is a tribute to the French-Spanish geodesic mission that determined the Earth's dimensions in 1736-1737. The shield is surmounted by a condor with half-open wings and supported by the median part of the animal, representing Ecuador and a symbol of valor and purity. The lower part of the shield is superimposed by a scroll with the golden yellow and red colors and inscribed with "PROVINCIA DE PICHINCHA".
http://www.pichincha.gob.ec/pichincha/simbolos/94-escudo
Canton website
Ivan Sache, 18 September 2018

The Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) monument was originally erected in 1936 by Luis Tufiño to commemorate the bicentenary of the French-Spanish geodesic mission. Of 10 m in height, the monument was subsequently transferred 9 km westwards, in the village of Calacali.
The present-day monument was erected in 1979 by the Pichincha Province Council on the original site. Of 30 m in height, it is surmounted by a globe of 4.5 m in diameter and 5 tons in weight, offered by Escuela Politécnica Nacional. It is composed of nine floors showing diverse exhibitions related to the mission.
The monument is now included in Ciudad Mitad del Monde, inaugurated in 1992. Designed from scratch as a Spanish colonial town, the Ciudad is an eclectic open-air museum including the monument, a lama farm, a native's village, a scale reconstitution of colonial Quito, a train station, a planetarium and diverse museums dedicated to pre-Colombian art, the artist Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999) the Virgin, beer, and cocoa.
http://www.mitaddelmundo.com/es/atractivos-turisticos/museo-ecuatorial
Official website
Ivan Sache, 18 September 2018