History of the flagpole and the flag in Portugal

In Portugal the flagpole has maritime roots. Flags and pennants on ships’ masts identified nationality and sent signals, and the vocabulary of flag flying, with words such as adriça (halyard), verga (yard) and a tope (at the top), comes from the language of the sea. On land, the flagpole gained importance with the Republic, when the new flag was raised on barracks, castles and public buildings. This guide traces that history.

The flag at sea

The decree of 30 June 1911, which set the measurements of the new national flag, dealt at the same time with the flags of the sea: the ships’ jack, with a green border and a scarlet centre, and the pennants, in green and red. Decreto-Lei n.º 150/87 still keeps the specific rules for the use of the flag at sea, which follow different rules from those on land.

The flag of the revolution

According to the Presidency of the Republic, the green and red colour scheme goes back to the republican movement of 31 January 1891 in Porto. On 5 October 1910, the colours were used by Machado Santos at the Rotunda and then at all the barracks and on top of São Jorge Castle, still with the red at the hoist and the larger part green.

The Provisional Government appointed a commission for the new flag on 15 October and approved its design on 29 November 1910. Two days later, on 1 December, it established the Festival of the Flag, the Republic’s first great civic celebration, organised by the Lisbon City Council. The Constituent National Assembly sanctioned the flag at its opening session on 19 June 1911. The meaning of the colours is in the guide to flag symbolism.

The early years

Acceptance was not immediate. According to the Museum of the Presidency of the Republic, the "flag quarrel" set the supporters of the monarchy’s blue and white against those of green and red in the newspapers, and for many the new flag remained linked to the revolution. It was the First World War that, according to the museum, united the Portuguese under the new symbol.

The Azorean autonomy flag

According to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the first autonomy flag was raised in November 1897 on a property of José Maria Raposo de Amaral Júnior, one of the leaders of the autonomy movement, at Lomba dos Gagos, in the parish of Ginetes, municipality of Ponta Delgada. It had the colours of the national flag of the time, blue and white, a flying goshawk under nine stars and, in the upper corner, the national shield. It served as the model for the flag of the Azores approved in 1979. The regional flags are described in the guide to flag types.

The rules of 1987

For decades the rules on the use of the flag were scattered across several pieces of legislation. Decreto-Lei n.º 150/87 brought them together in 1987. Its preamble explains that the legislation was scattered and incomplete, "dating in some cases from the beginning of the century", and the decree set the flying hours, half-mast, the place of honour and the placing of flagpoles in a place of honour on the ground, on façades or on top of buildings.

The pole in Parque Eduardo VII

The country’s largest flagpole in a public space stands at the top of Parque Eduardo VII in Lisbon. According to RTP, the flag measuring 20 by 12 metres and 240 square metres was raised in September 2005 on a pole 35 metres high, by the President of the Lisbon City Council, and was then the largest national flag in the country.

The flagpole today

Today aluminium and fibreglass poles have replaced wooden ones, and many have an internal halyard and a tilting base. The technical development is described in the guides to types of flagpoles and materials, and the flag’s calendar in the guide to flags on holidays.