LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s new conservative government, in its first edict, on Wednesday reinstated the heraldic symbols harking back to the Age of Exploration on the official state emblem that its predecessor had ditched for a “more inclusive and secular” logo.
The symbols include the armillary sphere, which is an early astronomical device used by seafarers, five shields symbolizing the Muslim kings defeated by King Afonso I in the 12th century, and seven castles taken back from the Moors during the Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Christians.
They all feature on the Portuguese flag against a red and green background, and Cabinet Minister Antonio Leitao Amaro told a news conference the symbols were “essential to our identity, our history and culture”.
Only last year, the Socialist government had introduced a simplified emblem with a yellow circle sandwiched between a green and a red rectangle, citing the modern context of inclusivity and the “visual density” of the original design, which compromised its digital rendering and printouts.
While some Portuguese applauded the return of the old symbols on social media, others lamented that the government’s priorities were misplaced amid a cost-of-living crisis.
“Their priorities are the reeking past. Progressivism and modernism have been abandoned. You know what awaits us, return to the past,” one user posted on X.
Noted another: “I want the promises fulfilled. My salary is still low”.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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