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Cruz del Eje Department, C�rdoba Province, Argentina

Cruz del Eje Municipality

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Cruz del Eje Municipality

image by Ivan Sache, 06 Jan 2014

The municipality of Cruz del Eje (30,680 inhabitants in 2010) is located in the northwest of the C�rdoba Province, 150 km from C�rdoba City.

Cruz del Eje is of unknown precise origin, its foundation being related by different local legends.

A first legend is related by the poet Ataliva Herrera (1888-1953) in the poem "Bamba" (1933), part 5; the poet describes the single combat between Captain Trist�n de Allende and Cacique Olay�n, which ended with the simultaneous death of the two fighters. The event, reported in several chronicles kept in the historical archives of the C�rdoba Province, was commemorated by the erection of a cross.

The second legend was published under the pseudonym "Nam�m Cur�" in the newspaper "Los Principios", 6 September 1927. The author relates the sad death of the merchant Tom�s lturrilicoechea in a cart accident. The merchant fell down on the head and broke his neck after an axlet ("eje") of his cart had broken down.

According to the historian Juan Carlos Lozada Echenique, the name of the town, undoubtedly, refers to a cross made of cart's axlets. There is no hint, however, on whom may have decided to erect the cross.

The town of Cruz del Eje was not founded from scratch; it was progressively established by descendants of the Spanish colonists who owned estates near Siguiman and San Marcos. Other colonists came from Punilla and another few more from the town of C�rdoba.

On 2 September 1735, Francisco de Baigorr� asked to Juan de Armaza y Arregui, Governor of Tucum�n, the concession of the lands "commonly known as Cruz del Eje". Judge Estanislao de Toledo Pimentel signed the act of property on 22 September 1735. These are the first documents mentioning Cruz del Eje as a specific territory.

Cruz del Eje is the birth town of the singer Jairo (b. 1949 as Mario Rub�n Gonz�lez), performer of more than 500 songs in Spanish, French and Italian.

The Department of Cruz del Eje was established by the Provincial Decree of 15 July 1856, seceding from Punilla. The Department is made of the municipalities of Soto (1888), Serrezuela (1925), San Marcos (1953) and Cruz del Eje (4 June 1890).

The Bishopric of Cruz del Eje was established on 12 August 1963.

The flag of Cruz del Eje is prescribed by Municipal Ordinance No. 1,382 of 2 April 1999.

The flag is horizontally divided olive green-white-sky blue. In the middle of the flag is placed a yellow sun superimposed with a brown map of the department charged with a yellow triangle.

White is the colour of cotton. The yellow triangle represents the location of the town of Cruz del Eje in the department of the same name.

Ivan Sache, 06 Jan 2014

Other sites:

The history of Cruz del Eje at the Municipal Government official website
Reported by Ivan Sache 06 Jan 2014