Read on to find out everything you might want to know about the Portuguese flag! The Portuguese flag today known in Portugal as the Bandeira das Quinas is made up of an unequal bi-colour rectangle. Located on the line separating the two colours is something called an armillary sphere. On top of that armillary sphere is the national shield of Portugal.
Within the red rim are seven gold coloured castles. On the white inescutcheon are five smaller blue shields arranged in a Greek cross pattern.
Within each of these blue shields lies five white dots officially called bezants. After reading the description, you might be thinking it sounds rather complicated. Although it was officially adopted on 30 th June , the colours, the symbols and the meaning behind them are much much older than that.
The three men commissioned with designing the flag were a painter, a journalist, and a writer. When the flag was first adopted, the colours especially the use of green, was not seen as a traditional choice for Portugal. In the previous versions of the Portuguese flag the colour green had actually been rarely been used at all.
Traditionally, blue and white had been a much more prominent colour and had featured on several of the flags of the past. Blue also had a religious meaning, its one of the main colours used in depictions of Mary and the Immaculate Conception. Despite this, the republican-inspired push deliberately aimed to break the former flags bond with the monarchy and religion.
The republicans wanted to emphasise the secularisation of Portugal and promote the republic. The central red shield, filled with yellow castles and smaller blue shields, symbolizes victories against the Moors. This is the oldest symbol on the Portuguese flag.
The smaller blue shields represent the five Moorish kings who were killed by the first King of Portugal, Afonso I. The seven yellow castles symbolize Moorish fortresses that were overthrown in battle.
The yellow ribbon-like structure around the shields represents a navigational instrument known as an armillary sphere.
Portuguese navigators used this tool in conjunction with knowledge of astrology to help navigate across the oceans. Each district in continental Portugal, as well as the Azores and Madeira island, are represented with their own flags. The green and red background only became part of the national flag after the first Republic came into power.
Before, it was dominated in a blue and white color scheme. In the 19th century, the flag became a national symbol. The current design of the Portuguese flag was first adopted on June 30, The Portuguese flag has two nicknames. Anyone that shows a lack of respect toward the national flag will receive a prison sentence of up to 12 months.
The reason for this was that during the republican insurrection in , these were the colors on the banners of the rebellious. Also, they were the same colors during the monarchy-overthrowing revolution in Lisbon.
According to the commission, red had connotations with battling and conquest. Also, it was a color of burning and joy. As for the green color, they justified it that green was the color on the revolutionary flag during the insurrection. As for the armillary sphere, it was already present under the reign of John VI. Also, it had connotations with Portuguese maritime history. Finally, the shield was also kept. Following these steps, the country started to produce the new flag at the National Rope House.
It was officially presented on December 1st, The government also changed textbooks for children to explain the symbols of the flag in detail. In this way, the government wanted the whole country to accept the new flag. The national coat of arms a white-rimmed national shield on top of a yellow armillary sphere is placed over the border between both colors.
The armillary sphere is distant from equal sides of the upper and lower edges of the flag. The sphere is drawn in perspective. It has six edge-embossed arcs, four of which are big circles and two are small circles.
The big circles represent the ecliptic, the equator, and two meridians. The last three are placed in a way that the intersections between every two arcs make a right angle. The national shield is vertically centered over the sphere. It also has two main background colors: red on the edge of the shield, and white inside the shield like a miniature of the shield. The little white shield also has five more blue shields on it, arranged like a Greek cross.
Each of them has five white bezants. The red bordure, on the other hand, has seven yellow castles; three on top one in each corner and one in the middle , two in the middle, and two more on each side of the bordure. On June 19th, , the Constituent Assembly approved the new design of the flag.
The regulations of the decree were officially published in government diary no. As indicated above, green and red are the predominant colors of the flag. In addition to these, we can also see the colors yellow, blue, and white. Three important symbols are present on the Portuguese flag. They are 1 the field colors , 2 the armillary sphere , and 3 the national shield.
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