
Last modified: 2020-08-08 by ian macdonald
Keywords: rio grande do sul | torres | 
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 image by Ivan Sache, 7 August 2020
 image by Ivan Sache, 7 August 2020
The municipality of Torres (38,732 inhabitants in 2019; 16,118 ha) is located 
on the border with Santa Catarina state, here river Mampituba, 200 km north-east 
of Porto Alegre.
Torres ("Towers") is named for the four basaltic rocky spurs 
located on the seashore. Torres also owns Rio Grande do Sul's unique sea island, 
Ilha dos Lobos, lit. Wolves' Island, referring to "sea wolves", South American 
fur seals. The island was registered as a Federal Ecological Reserve in 1983.
Torres was mentioned for the first time in 1738, on the map established by 
the cartographer Diogo Soares. To protect the area from the Spanish threat, the 
Swedish marshal Jacques Funck and Colonel João Alves erected a fort in 1777, 
which was deactivated the same year following the signature of the Treaty of San 
Ildefonso by Spain and Portugal. The return of the Spanish threat at the end of 
the 18th century caused the building of a brand new fort.
José Caetano da 
Silva Coutinho was allowed in 1816 to found a chapel in Torres; this was the 
first chapel built between Laguna and Conceição do Arroio (Osório). Francisco de 
Paula Soares rebuilt the fort in 1820, which was renamed to Bastion Iparanga 
after the proclamation of the independence of Brazil in 1822. The fort was 
eventually disbanded in the 1840s.
The German colonization of Torres was 
initiated in 1826. The municipality of Torres was established by Law No. 1,652 
promulgated on 21 May 1878. Reincorporated to Osório in 1887, Torres regained 
municipal status on 22 November 1890.
The first lighthouse was erected in 
Torres in 1912, while the inauguration of Balneário Picoral in 1915 initiated 
tourism.
https://torres.rs.gov.br/
Municipal website
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2020
A red flag bearing a municipal emblem inside a broad black-lined white ring.
Official website at
http://www.torres.rs.gov.br 
Dirk Schönberger, 25 April 2012
The flag of Torres is prescribed by Municipal Law No. 1,353 promulgated on 4 
September 1970.
Article 1.
The flag of the municipality, whose 
adoption originates in a public contest prescribed by Decree No. 32 issued in 
1969, has for fundamental characteristics: a red background, in rectangular 
shape, charged in the center with a double circumference that inscribes a view 
of the sea near one of the three towers ["torres"] that form the municipality's 
namesake, on Guarita Beach, surrounded by the motto "Torres - Agricultura - 
Turismo - 24/05/1878".
https://leismunicipais.com.br/a/rs/t/torres/lei-ordinaria/1970/135/1346/lei-ordinaria-n-1346-1970-sanciona-e-promulga-a-lei-n-1353-da-camara-de-vereadores-que-oficializa-a-bandeira-do-municipio-de-torres-e-da-outras-providencias
Leis Municipais database
Photos
https://www.facebook.com/prefeituratorres/photos/a.2578750932153777/2578752058820331/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/prefeituratorres/photos/a.2368315143197358/2368316849863854/?type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/prefeituratorres/photos/a.2333453933350146/2333457570016449/?type=3&theater
Ivan Sache, 7 August 2020