National Order of San Lorenzo

The National Order of San Lorenzo was established as a military order medal by the President of the First Revolutionary Government of Quito, Juan Pío Montúfar, II Marquis de Selva Alegre, by a decree issued on August 17, 1809, in the Capitulate Hall of the Convent of San Agustín. All the members of the revolutionary Council were decorated with it. Once the Council disappeared and the power returned to Spanish hands, the Order also ceased for more than a century.

It was restored by Ecuadorian President Camilo Ponce Enríquez on August 10, 1959. Finally the law was restructured on June 4 of 2001, during the government of president Gustavo Noboa Bejarano. Currently it is the highest award granted in Ecuador, both in civil and military fields.