Symbols of Cartagena

This flag is called "cuadrilonga", for having three four sided figures one inside the other with the colors red, yellow and green. The green rectangle has in its center an eight point white star. This flag was taken after Cartagena de Indias declared itself a sovereign and independent state from Spain in 1811.

Colonial
In 1574 the King Philip II of Spain concede to Cartagena de Indias (due to the fact that the city had taken great importance)a coat of arms with two re lions on their hind legs with a cross between them held with their front legs, above on a golden space and on top of the cross a crown between the heads of the lions, and with some ornaments. This coat of Arms was to be used on all official acts of the city.
 

Republican
This coat of arms was adopted in 1812, when Cartegena de Indias becomes a Sovereign and Independent State from the Spanish Crown. It shows and indian woman seated under a palm tree with a pomegranate in her right hand from which a bird is being fed. In the left hand a piece of a broken chain, of which the other half is on the floor. In the background the Popa hill, one of the most representative landmarks of the city. This patriot symbol represents the independence and the liberty reached by the city, the first one to do so in the Viceroy of Nueva Granada.

Republican Coat of Arms (approximation to the original)	Republican Coat of Arms (recent)	Republican Coat of Arms (actual)

This hymn of a chorus and a strophe was composed by Daniel Lemaitre Tono, a son of Cartagena with a renown business leadership and artistic trajectory. The music was then composed by the master Adolfo Mejía, one of the most respected musicians in Colombia.

The words remember the fight of Cartagena de Indias to liberate from the Spanish dominion in the first decade of the XIX century. This hymn was made official in the middle of the XX century.

On the top is the condor of the Andes, the national bird which on the beak has a laurel crown. Underneath is a ribbon with the leyend "Libertad y Orden" (Liberty and Order). On the top third of the blazon are Colombias riches, represented by a pomegranate flower with two abundance horns spilling gold coins and the natural fruits of the nation. In the middle a red hat placed on the point of a spear, symbol of the liberty. On the bottom third are the two oceans that bathe Colombia's shores. On the sides of the coat of arms hang four flags on their poles.