Last modified: 2025-12-06 by rob raeside
Keywords: maldonado | departamento de maldonado | whale |
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![[Maldonado Department Flag]](../images/u/uy-ma.gif)
image
by Ivan Sache, 22 May 2017
The department of Maldonado (164,300 inhabitants in 2011) is made of the municipalities of Aiguá, Garzón, Maldonado (capital), Pan de Azúcar, Piriápolis, Punta del Este, San Carlos and Solís Grande.
Ivan Sache, 22 May 2017
The flag of the department is white with the historical coat of arms of the town of Maldonado in the middle.
The coat of arms of Maldonado was granted on 18 April 1803 by Charles IV. It features a whale emerging from a stormy sea, a fortress
watching the site from a wide horizon, and an anchor.
Whales were once commonly seen off Maldonado - and can still be seen, to a lesser extent, though. The fortress recalls the foundation of Maldonado as a military post. The anchor is a tribute to the inhabitants of the town, to the earlier colonists from the Old World who crossed the ocean and spotted the local coast before entering Río de la Plata.
The whole shield represents Maldonado as a shelter between the beach and the sky and between the ocean and Río de la Plata.
Ivan Sache, 22 May 2017
![[arms]](../images/u/uy-ma2.gif)
image
by Daniel Rentería, 11 November 2025
based on photo
Although it appears it is not really used by the Intendency, the Congress of Intendents uses a flag for the department which is white with the intendency logo centered upon it: the coat of arms with the text Intendencia de Maldonado underneath; at the very bottom is the motto CONSTRUYENDO FUTURO [Building Future], all text in black.
Flag photo at https://www.instagram.com
Daniel Rentería, 11 November 2025
