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San Antonio District (Lima, Peru)

image by Ivan Sache, 24 May 2010

Overview
About the flag

See also:

Overview

The district municipality of San Antonio (2,315 inhabitants, 85% living in urban areas; 3,715 ha) is located 80 km south of Lima, in the north-western part of the Cañete Province, Department of Lima. Located on the Pacitic Ocean, San Antonio is crossed by the Panamerican Road (southern branch). Made an annex of Mala on 25 September 1921 by Law No. 505, San Antonio was erected a district on 21 December 1922 by the Congress, which was confirmed on 17 February 1923 by Law No. 4611; the district includes the settlements of San Antonio (capital), San Andrés, La Laguna, Barranco, El Monte, El Pino, Esquivilca, La Dacha, Nuevo San Antonio and Puerto Viejo.
The district was named for its patron saint, St. Anthony of Padua. In 1769, the local governor Nicolás Avila Manco Rimanchi Yupanqui Quispe travelled to Spain to plead at the Council of Indies the cause of the village, threatened by the neighbouring settlement of Chilca; manhandled by soldiers, he invoked St. Anthony who interceded on his behalf with the king. The local tradition, however, says that the early settlement was named for a geological formation recalling the silhouette of a praying Franciscan friar.
Source: Municipal website, historical account
Ivan Sache, 24 May 2010

About the flag

The flag of San Antonio was designed by Rosa Chumpitaz Ramos, the winner of the contest organized in 2003 by the municipal administration. The flag, with proportions 2:3, is divided into three triangles, the two outer, brown triangles converging at the apex of the central, cream-colored triangle. The municipal shield is placed on the white triangle
The brown triangles represent the mountains surrounding San Antonio. The cream-coloured triangle represents peace and tranquillity. Brown and cream are the traditional colours of San Antonio, recalling
the traditional colours of St. Anthony.
Source: Municipal website, description of the flag
The shield of San Antonio was designed by Félix Alberto Ramos Francia, the winner of the contest organized in 2003 by the municipal administration. The shield, of rhomboid shape, has a brown border. Its upper, serrated edge represents the mountains, over which the sun rises. The lateral apices of the rhomb are each charged with a leaved branch of the famous San Antonio apples. The base of the shield bears a scroll in the national colours (red-white-red) with the writing "DISTRITO DE / SAN ANTONIO" in brown letters.
The shield is divided into three parts. The upper part shows the "Sleeping Lion", a rocky natural monument located on the San Antonio "ecological beaches" visited every year by thousands of tourists and lit by the sun and the azure sky. The lower left part represents a cultivated field, symbolizing the local products of agriculture - grapes, apples, peaches, bananas and olives; grapes are highlightes with the representation of a bunch of grapes and two bottles of wine and pisco (the national brandy). The lower right part represents the wet areas ("humedales") of Puerto Viejo and their natural resources - flora, fauna and water -, declared a protected area on 18 January 1995 by the municipal council.
The book placed in the middle of the shield represents the Bible and the Roman Catholic faith, but also knowledge, wisdom and culture. The whole shield illustrates some mottos associated with San Antonio, such as "Cradle and capital of apples" (which were brought back from Spain by Nicolás Avila Manco Rimanchi Yupanqui Quispe), "The ecologic beaches' district" or "The district with the nice countryside and the beautiful landscapes".
Sources: Municipal website, description of the shield, presentation of the local apples, presentation of the "Sleeping Lion", presentation of the wine and pisco industry, presentation of the Porto Viejo "humedales"
Ivan Sache, 24 May 2010