Coat of Arms of The Department of Antioquia - Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms as is seen today follows the blazon ordered in 1812:

That the State take for arms in its public escutcheons and in the great seal of the Dispatch of business, a matron dressed and adorned Indian, seated between the plantain and the palm, and reclining at the foot of a hill Or, with a rushing river at her feet, uncapping in the most graceful attitude a phrygian cap. —Chamber of the Senate, Antioquia, Decreto Nº 21 del 23 de agosto de 1812

The rulers wanted not only to record the autonomy of the New State, but they wanted to symbolize its wealth and virtue with the golden hill, its triumphs and victories with the palm, its abundance with the plantain tree, its freedom with the phrygian cap, and the whole Antioquian race with the matron.

Although the coat of arms was adopted and blazoned in 1812, the coat of arms would only take form until 1912 when it was officially recreated for the occasion of the centenary of the independence of Antioquia by orders of the historian José María Mesa Jaramillo and executed by Daniel Mesa, and curiously enough, the model used to draw the matron who is supposed to represent the Antioquian population, was a Mexican actress named Virginia Fábregas. The coat of arms is currently used as a symbol of the state and is displayed at departmental buildings and offices, issued in official documentation, cast into a medal awarded by the department, and used in conjunction with the civilian flag of Antioquia to form the Governor's flag.