Last Updated on 2026-09-07 by Jorge Bastos
The current Portuguese flag was created in 1910, after the proclamation of the Republic on October 5, 1910. Such a profound change in the centuries-old monarchical tradition justified new symbols and, consequently, a new national flag.
Quick answer: It’s commonly said that green represents hope and red represents blood shed by the Portuguese people. This idea isn’t entirely invented — it already appeared in the report of the commission that designed the flag in 1910 — but it was later reshaped under the Estado Novo dictatorship, which stripped away its original political-revolutionary meaning and turned it into a generic nationalist myth. The colors actually come from symbols used by republican movements dating back to at least 1891.
The Portuguese flag is rectangular (height is 2/3 of the width), and it is characterized by being divided vertically into two colors – dark green and red, with green remaining in the pole and occupying 2/5 of the bottom. The coat of arms of Portugal on the armillary sphere, in yellow, superimposed on the union of colors and vertically centered.
Creation of the Portuguese Flag
Just 10 days after the revolution, on 15 October, one of the first measures of the new government was the creation of a commission to develop a new Portuguese flag. This commission consisted of Navy officer Ladislau Parreira, Army officer Afonso Palla, journalist, and politician João Chagas, military and writer Abel Botelho and the famous painter Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro.
On October 29, a first draft of the national flag was presented, which corresponded largely to the green-red flags used on 5 October but with red on the pole’s side. After some changes (shape of the armillary sphere and removal of the radiant star placed in timbre), a second project was presented on 6 November, approved by the Government on 29 November 1910, and approved by the Constituent Assembly on 11 June 1911.
The government also approved the 1st of December as the Day of the Flag, and on the 1st of December of 1910, the new national flag was used in the military and popular parade that left the Lisbon City Hall to Praça dos Restauradores, where it was raised for the first time.
Meaning of the Portuguese Flag
Meaning of the Colors of the Portuguese Flag
The main colors of the Portuguese flag are dark green and red (scarlet). Dark green is located on the side of the pole and occupies two-fifths of the total area, while red is on the fly side and occupies the remaining three-fifths of the flag.
It is popularly said that green symbolizes hope and red the blood shed by those who fought for the homeland, a language that already appeared, in a different sense, in the 1910 commission report, but which the Estado Novo later reformulated as a generic symbol of the nation, erasing its political origin.
Jorge Candeias describes this as ‘a typical case of symbolism that emerges from design’ (November 27, 1998): the emotional meaning was attributed to the design after it already existed, and not the other way around.
| Common belief | What history actually shows |
|---|---|
| “It’s a complete myth invented by the Estado Novo” | False — the “hope” and “blood” language already appears in the 1910 commission’s report |
| Green = hope for Portugal’s future | In 1910, “hope” referred to the republican cause and the 1891 uprising, not an abstract national sentiment |
| Red = blood of those who died for the homeland | In 1910, it was described as a “combative, virile, conquering color” — a political metaphor, not an abstract patriotic tribute |
| The colors were chosen from scratch in 1910 | They had already been used by revolutionary movements since at least 1891, and were likely linked to the Carbonária and republican freemasonry |
But why these colors? As mentioned above, the flag and colors were chosen by a commission in 1910, approved by the government and the constituent assembly. Despite being present in some past flags and symbols, both green and red were never Portugal’s main colors. On the other hand, they were the colors of the flags of the Portuguese Republican Party, and the flags unfurled in the republican revolt of Porto on 31 January 1891. Although the revolution failed, the colors gained strength and symbolism and were never forgotten.
The traditional colors of Portugal were white and, to a lesser extent the blue. The white was clearly the color of Portugal, while the blue was somewhat seen as the monarchy’s color, besides being the national color. Thus, many people were against the new flag, and many alternative suggestions were using the old White and Blue, and a mix of the traditional colors and the new ones. In the end, the new flag prevailed.
Where Do the Republican Colors Actually Come From?
If the popular explanation doesn’t tell the whole story, where do these colors actually come from?
Green and red didn’t appear out of nowhere in 1910. Portuguese revolutionary movements had already used them decades earlier — namely the Carbonária, a secret society tied to the republican cause, and the Grémio Lusitano, the masonic lodge to which many leading republicans belonged. During the failed uprising of January 31, 1891, in Porto, the rebels had already raised a red flag with a green circle at its center.
There’s also a more philosophical reading, put forward by historians such as Rui Ramos: red would be linked to the political and democratic roots of republicanism, inspired by the popular revolutions of 1848 and the Paris Commune; green, in turn, would echo the positivist philosophy of Auguste Comte, who regarded that color as a symbol of “positivist nations.”
When the Provisional Government appointed a commission in 1910 — including figures such as painter Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro and writer João Chagas — to design the new national flag, it essentially formalized colors that had already been circulating in revolutionary circles for nearly two decades. What changed under the Estado Novo decades later was the meaning attached to those colors: from symbols of a concrete political cause (the republican revolution), they came to be presented as timeless, abstract symbols of the Portuguese nation, erasing their partisan and revolutionary origin.
It was precisely this need to formalize the colors and design that led to the 1919 decrees, which officially established the flag we know today.
Legal Colors
| Color | HEX | RGB | CMYK | Pantone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | #046A38 | 4, 106, 56 | 85, 3, 91, 44 | 349 |
| Red | #DA291C | 218, 41, 28 | 0, 95, 100, 0 | 485 |
| Yellow (sphere/quinas) | #FFE900 | 255, 233, 0 | 0, 3, 97, 0 | — |
| Blue (quinas) | #002D72 | 0, 45, 114 | 100, 79, 0, 37 | — |
| White | #FFFFFF | 255, 255, 255 | 0, 0, 0, 0 | — |
Editorial note: minor variations of these codes exist across different graphic manuals (some cite Pantone 186 or 377 instead); the values above are the most consistently cited across independent sources.
Legal basis
- Decree of the Constituent National Assembly of June 19, 1911 — officially established the green-and-red bipartite flag with the coat of arms over the armillary sphere (Diário do Governo No. 141, June 20, 1911, p. 2601).
- Decree No. 150, of June 30, 1911 — detailed the proportions, technical design, and use on regimental and naval flags (Diário do Governo No. 150).
- Decree-Law No. 150/87, of March 30 — the regulation currently governing the use of the National Flag.
The Armillary Sphere
Centered and superimposed on the union of colors, we find a very stylized version of the Armillary Sphere, in yellow, highlighted in black. It consists of four rings arranged as maximum circles of the same sphere, three of which on planes at 90° angles and a fourth, wider, in an oblique position. The rings symbolize two meridians (nodal and zenith-apical), Ecuador, and Ecliptic, however, they are positioned seeking graphic harmony and not astronomical correction. Note that there are no polar circles on the Portuguese flag.
The Armillary Sphere is one of the most important astronomical instruments of navigation used by Portuguese sailors during the Age of Discovery. Introduced in Portugal by the Templars, it became one of the nation’s greatest symbols and, above all of Portugal’s greatest glory, the discoveries.
Current flag of the Republic (1910-present)
The Armillary Sphere had already been incorporated by D. Manuel I in his personal flag and later in national flags and symbols. It was recovered by the republicans to represent the maritime expansion of the Portuguese throughout the 15th and 16th centuries and symbolizing the global character of Portugal.
Portuguese Shield
Resting over the armillary sphere, we have the Portuguese Shield. With the exception of the reign of Afonso Henriques (the first king of Portugal), the coat of arms is present in all the historical flags of Portugal. It is thus the main Portuguese symbol. The shield evolved over centuries, but the main elements appear since the reign of D. Sancho I, the second king of Portugal.
This shield is very complex, with lots of details and symbolism. We will first describe each of the Portuguese shield elements and then explain their possible meanings and origins.
The coat of arms on the Portuguese flag is represented by a round-tipped shield consisting of a white interior area and a red exterior area, parallelly limiting the shield. In the red part, we have seven yellow castles, three at the top (one in each corner and one in the middle), two at the midpoint of each quadrant of the curved base (rotated 45 degrees), and two more on each side of the edge, on the horizontal line of the middle banner. Each castle consists of the main building, showing a closed (yellow) gate, on top of which are three battlemented towers.
In the white part of the shield, we have five small blue shields (escudetes), arranged in a Greek cross (1 + 3 + 1). Within each of these shields, there are five white discs (the bezants) arranged in the shape of a Saint Andrew’s cross (2 + 1 + 2). The shields thus loaded with the bezants are what is usually called “quinas“.
Finally, we should note that the shield is outlined in white all around, and all objects that make up the flag are limited by a black line, except for the bezants, the shields, and of course red and green fields.
Symbolism of the Portuguese Coat of Arms
To better understand the coat of arms, we will divide it between the white shield with the five quinas and the red outer area with the yellow castles.
The quinas
The origin and meaning of the quinas, that is, the five blue shields with the 5 bezants, are related to the legend of the Battle of Ourique. According to legend, Afonso Henriques was visited by God who indicated that he would win the battle found a new empire of God.
According to the legends, the 5 bezants represent the 5 wounds of Christ when crucified, while the five shields arranged in a Christian cross form the five Moorish kings (from the tafras of Évora, Beja, Elvas, Badajoz and Seville) that D. Afonso Henriques would have killed during the Battle of Ourique. There is another lesser-known version of the legend that tells us that the 5 bezants refer to the 5 wounds suffered by D. Afonso Henriques in the battle.
Besides, according to the legend, the sum of all the bezants (the central ones should be counted twice) symbolizes the 30 pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot received for the betrayal of Jesus Christ. However, we must note that these explanations lack evidence, as they appear only a few centuries after the battle of Ourique, for example in the chronicles of Fernão Lopes (1419).
Throughout this time, the number of beetles has varied. If we look at the Portuguese historical flags only in 1385 it was fixed in five, so the real meaning can not be exactly that. The presence of the bezants is supposed to be an affirmation of sovereignty as it assisted the sovereign to mint his own currency.
The Castles
The current shield has seven gold castles depicted in yellow. According to legends, they represent the seven fortresses conquered in the ancient kingdom of the Algarve, conquered by D. Afonso III in the 13th century. However, this explanation is not completely satisfactory because, in addition to Afonso III already using castles before the conquests, he did not have a specific number of castles. The number seven is fixed much later, only in 1485.
One of the most credible hypotheses for castles is related to the family ties of D. Afonso III since his mother and his second wife were Castilian, whose coat of arms consists exactly of a golden castle on a red field.
The Flag of Portugal
The current Portuguese flag appeared with the implantation of the republic to break with some symbols of the past and, in particular, with the Monarchy. The new colors, which now seem so natural to us, were argued, discussed, even fought against, and took some time to be fully accepted. Time, wars, past difficulties, and even sport brought legitimacy to the new Portuguese flag, and today it is a non-issue for the vast majority of Portuguese.
Finally, we leave the words of the poet Bernardo Passos:
She is so ours already, guiding our steps …
In such a way says Motherland, that beautiful flag,
That either this homeland lives by lifting it well in its arms
Or this homeland dies shrouded in it!
What does the green on the Portuguese flag mean?
There is no original symbolic reason for the color green — it was inherited from Portuguese republican movements, used since at least the Porto revolt of 1891 and possibly linked to the Carbonária. The idea that it represents “hope” is a symbolic justification added later, in 1910, and then reinforced by the Estado Novo regime — not the reason why the color was chosen.
What does the red on the Portuguese flag mean?
Like green, red comes from the pre-1910 republican tradition, without a documented symbolic origin. The phrase “blood of those who died for Portugal” is a post-hoc rationalization, also present (in a different version) in the 1910 commission report and later reused by the Estado Novo as a nationalist myth—not an explanation of the original choice of color.
How many castles are on the Portuguese coat of arms?
Seven castles, representing the strongholds conquered from the Moors during the Reconquista, particularly in the Algarve region.
How many quinas (blue shields) are there and what do they represent?
Five quinas, traditionally linked to the five wounds of Christ and to the legend of King Afonso Henriques’ victory at the Battle of Ourique.
Why is there an armillary sphere on the flag?
The Manueline armillary sphere symbolizes the Age of Discoveries and Portugal’s role in maritime navigation and expansion during the 15th and 16th centuries.
When was the current flag created?
It was approved by the Constituent National Assembly on June 19, 1911, with the detailed technical design finalized on June 30, 1911.
When is Portugal’s National Flag Day?
December 1st, also known as the National Flag Festival.
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