Types of flagpoles in Brazil

Law 5,700 speaks of flags raised on a pole or halyards, on public or private buildings, places of worship, sports grounds, offices, classrooms, auditoriums, vessels, streets and squares (article 11). In practice, this covers everything from a table stand to a pole on a public square dozens of metres high. This guide presents the types of flagpoles used in Brazil, based on the technical sheets of Brazilian manufacturers.

Poles in the ground

The pole in the ground, in front of town halls, schools, barracks or companies, is the only one to which the law’s rule on flag size in article 21 refers: at public offices and military units, the width of the flag is between one seventh and one fifth of the height of the pole. There are two ways of fixing it:

• embedded: the base of the pole is set directly into the ground or the foundation. In B&B Iluminação’s datasheet, 1 metre is embedded for poles of 6 to 12 metres above ground;
• flanged: the pole has a base plate, the flange, with slotted holes for levelling, fixed to the foundation by L-shaped anchor bolts and reinforced by brackets. In the same sheet, the plate measures 200 to 330 millimetres a side, depending on the height.

The guide to installing a flagpole covers foundations and permits.

Telescopic, tubular and polygonal

By the shape of the shaft, manufacturers distinguish:

• telescopic: tubes of decreasing diameter fitted together in steps. B&B Iluminação makes telescopic galvanised steel poles of 6 to 12 metres, 76.2 to 127 millimetres in diameter at the base and 63.5 millimetres at the top, joined by a removable joint with an inner sleeve or by a fixed welded joint;
• tubular: a tube of circular section. According to the sheet published on AECweb, Metalsinter makes tubular poles of 4 to 15 metres;
• polygonal: a shaft of polygonal section, for greater heights. The same sheet lists polygonal poles of 18 to 30 metres, designed for winds of up to 160 km/h under the ABNT NBR 6123 standard.

Lines of poles

In front of public buildings and company headquarters, there may be several poles side by side, for the national flag, the state flag, the municipal flag or the company flag. Article 19 of Law 5,700 calls this arrangement a line of poles, in which the national flag takes the central position or the one nearest the centre and to its right. The guide to flag protocol explains this position.

The special pole in Brasília

A pole with a rule of its own in the law is the special pole on the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília, where, under article 12 of Law 5,700, the flag stays permanently at the top as a perennial symbol of the homeland. The flag is changed on the first Sunday of every month so that the new flag reaches the top before the old one starts to come down.

Façade and balcony poles

On buildings, the flag may also fly on short poles fixed to the façade or balcony. The law also provides for the flag spread out without a pole, applied to a wall or hung from a horizontal cable between buildings, trees, posts or poles (article 11(II)), with the longer side horizontal and the single star at the top (article 22). In condominiums, the rules of the condominium and the Civil Code may limit what is fixed to the façade; the guide to installing a flagpole covers this question.

Panóplias and indoor poles

In offices, classrooms and auditoriums, flags stand in panóplias, also called flag stands or pedestals. According to the Memorial of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Minas Gerais, a panóplia consists of a base into which the poles are fitted, which may be simple stands of wood, metal or plastic. According to the same text, when the pole is taller than a person, a line attached to a pulley at the top is generally used to hoist the flag. The guide to flagpole mechanics describes these systems, and the guide to flagpole materials compares the materials.