Introduction
The flag of Monterrey, capital of the Mexican state of Nuevo León, is a plain white field bearing the coat of arms of the municipality. It is flown at official events beside the flag of Mexico, and sometimes beside the flag of Nuevo León.
The white is not arbitrary. The arms themselves contain six white banners arranged three to a side behind the shield, and the flag takes its field from them. The colour is read as peace and cleanliness.
Meaning & Symbolism
Everything on the flag is in the arms, and the arms tell the founding story of the city. Within an oval frame stands a tree, and beside it an indigenous archer loosing an arrow at a red sun that rises behind the Cerro de la Silla, the saddle shaped mountain that closes the city skyline to the east.
Two indigenous figures, known historically as los rayados, support the shield. They wear huipil, loincloth and feather headdress and carry bow and arrow. Behind them stand six white banners over military trophies, cannon, shot and drums. A red band below carries the motto CIUDAD DE MONTERREY.
The whole is crowned with a count’s coronet. That is a direct reference to Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey and ninth viceroy of New Spain, the man the city is named after.
History of the Monterrey Flag
Monterrey is one of the many Latin American cities whose flag is the municipal arms on a plain cloth, a pattern inherited from Spanish civic heraldry rather than from modern flag design. The arms came first and the flag followed from them, down to the choice of white, which is taken from the six banners inside the shield.
The coronet at the top dates the symbolism to the colonial period. Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey, was viceroy of New Spain when the settlement was refounded in 1596 and given his title as its name.
No adopting decree or official set of proportions has been located for the flag itself, which is common for Mexican municipal flags: the arms are regulated, the cloth that carries them is a matter of use.
Curiosities
- The flag is white because the coat of arms it carries already contains six white banners, three to each side of the shield.
- The crown above the shield is a count’s coronet, for Gaspar de Zúñiga y Acevedo, Count of Monterrey and ninth viceroy of New Spain, whose title gave the city its name.
- The mountain in the arms is the Cerro de la Silla, and the archer is shooting at the sun rising behind it, because the mountain lies to the east of the city.
- The two supporters are known as los rayados, the striped ones, a historical name for the indigenous people of the region.
- Monterrey recognises only two official symbols, the coat of arms and the flag, even though the Cerro de la Silla and the Fundidora steelworks are just as identified with the city.
Download Flag
Download the flag of Monterrey in high-quality SVG vector format or PNG raster images. SVG files can be scaled to any size without losing quality.
Digital icon artwork; its proportions may differ from the official flag proportions listed on this page.
Construction Sheet
The flag's official proportions are a 4:7 ratio (width to length). The central emblem is positioned on the white field with its vertical axis at the flag's center. The large orange circle and the smaller blue circle are precisely defined in their overlap, with the green triangular element extending from the hoist to a specific point within the composition. The exact geometric specifications and color codes (likely in Pantone or CMYK) are defined in the city's official branding guidelines to ensure consistent reproduction.
Flags Similar to Monterrey Flag
Common Misidentifications
Rarely misidentified as a national flag due to its unique design, but its color scheme is sometimes loosely associated with other orange-white-green flags from Africa.