The Argentine national shield was created in 1813 by the General Constituent Assembly due to the need of the incipient nation to have its own seal.
The choice of the insignia occurred long before it was made official, so its selection was given more by use than by taste.
It was Manuel Belgrano who began to use it as a symbol of the pennant of the troops he commanded in the fight for independence.
Finally, on March 12, 1813, the decree that officially accepted the Argentine national shield was signed, oval in shape, with a laurel wreath, tied with a ribbon with the colors white and blue (those of the flag) at the tip and a sun at the top end.
In the center, the union of the provinces is symbolized, on the national tones, with human forearms of clasped hands, which hold a vertical pike, with a Phrygian cap punctured.
During the 200 years that followed, Argentina would undergo social, political and economic changes of all kinds, even the seal suffered alterations, but today the same model from 1813 is still used.
History
Although the Argentine national coat of arms was made official in 1813, there are documents that prove that it was used much earlier, especially as the insignia of arms of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.
The seal was made by Agustín Donado, then a deputy for the province of San Luis, who received the mandate of the Assembly in 1813 for its design.
But it was the goldsmith Juan de Dios Rivera who was responsible for its final impression, inspired by the Jacobin shields of the French Revolution, a detail that is present in the cap that stars the stamp.
Finally, on March 12, 1813, in the National Constituent Assembly, Hipólito Vieytes and Tomás Antonio Valle, secretary and president of the same, respectively, signed the official decree.
"That the Supreme Executive Power use the same seal of this Sovereign Body with the sole difference that the inscription of the circle is that of the Supreme Executive Power of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata," said the brief statement.
Discussions about its design
Although the design was commissioned to deputy Agustín Donado and in the official documents he shares the making with Dios Rivera, the history of its creation has some forgotten protagonists.
The inspirations in the national flag, national symbols, union and freedom, and Jacobin forms, have different origins, related to those who participated in its creation.
In addition to Donado and Dios Rivera, it is believed that Bernardo de Monteagudo, a politician of the time, and the Peruvian artist Isidro Antonio de Castro were also architects of the Argentine national shield.
Although their names do not appear in the official records of their constitution as insignia, the protagonists of their design themselves recognized the collaboration of these two men.
Symbology
Each part of the national shield of the Argentine Republic has a symbolic explanation, while its oval shape has definite proportions.
This is made in the ratio 14/11, and divided by a horizontal line in the middle part, which separates the light blue in the lower part from the white in the upper part.
The sun, called Sol de Mayo, for the date of the Revolution, is in its crescent phase over the upper part, symbolizing the birth of the new nation. It has 21 rays, 10 flame-shaped and 11 straight.
The bare forearms, with the clasped hands, which holds the pike, represents the union of the peoples of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata to support freedom, symbolized by the pike.
The Phrygian hat punctured, which completes the central image, was the emblem of the French revolutionaries of 1793, who marked every generation of leaders.
The laurels refer to victory and triumph, commemorating the military glory of the battles of independence. It has twenty-three leaves on the inside and twenty-five on the outside.
Finally, the ribbon in the shape of a bow with the colors of the national flag that join the laurel wreaths, are the expression of Argentine nationality.
First uses
After Manuel Belgrano began to use this shield as a symbol of Argentine nationality in his emancipatory struggles, the state also incorporated it before making it official.
According to the records of the time, it was used for the first time on February 22, 1813 to seal two citizenship letters of the Assembly of the year XIII. A few days later it would become official.
Modifications
On April 24, 1944, the National Executive Branch decreed that the design of the shield would finally be the one originally made in 1813, but until then the insignia underwent some modifications.
According to official documents, the sun varied in its forms, sometimes with a more angelic face and with different numbers of rays.
The Phrygian cap had different inclinations and alterations, and the flag was modified in the proportions of its ellipsis. All these changes often happened at the whims of the current rulers.
Finally, in 1944 the discussions were ended and it was decreed that: "The National coat of arms will be a reproduction of the seal used by the Sovereign General Constituent Assembly of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata of 1813".
References
- National Symbols, Casa Rosada, official archive. casarosada.gob.ar.
- Assembly of the year XIII, Pablo Camogli, Aguiar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2013.
- Argentine History, Diego Abad de Santillán, TEA, Buenos Aires, 1965.