Portugal's new conservative government restores state symbols on logo

FILE PHOTO: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Quarter Final - Morocco v Portugal - Al Thumama Stadium, Doha, Qatar - December 10, 2022 Portugal flags are pictured inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Carl Recine/File Photo

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.