Arms of the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon.

[Marcus Karlsson]

From the Institute's official site http://www.estesl.ipl.pt/ the Arms of the said Institute . The Arms are based on the Arms of the City of Lisbon (The Ship) and of the City Standard which is Gyrony of Argent and Sable. The Crest shows an Astrolabium as a sign of the Scientific work undertaken at the Institute I guess. The Arms was presented at the 25th Aniversary of the Institute 1 February 2011.

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

Gyrony is not not common in Portugal is it?

[JMcMillan]

Gyrony is not not common in Portugal is it?

Not so much on shields, as far as I can tell, but very frequently found in municipal and military flags. Gyronny of eight is the prescribed background pattern for flags of cities, quarterly for towns, and a solid colored field for parishes. It's also one of the patterns for heraldic standards and guidons* of units equivalent to battalions and companies in the Portuguese navy and air force.
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* "Standard" and "guidon" in this case being used in the military sense, not the English or Scottish heraldic sense. The Portuguese terms are estandarte heráldico and guião .

[JMcMillan]

The Crest shows an Astrolabium as a sign of the Scientific work undertaken at the Institute I guess.

Perhaps, but the armillary sphere (which is what this is) has been one of the main heraldic badges of Portugal since Henry the Navigator, so it's as much a national symbol as a scientific one.

[Ce Jamieson]

That shield would be a devil to paint. Very complex.

[Marcus Karlsson]

Gyrony is not not common in Portugal is it?

No, but there are some examples like the Arms of the Naval Base of Lisbon:



Picture from https://picasaweb.google.com/116420511985015636984

[Marcus Karlsson]

The Crest shows an Astrolabium as a sign of the Scientific work undertaken at the Institute I guess.

Perhaps, but the armillary sphere (which is what this is) has been one of the main heraldic badges of Portugal since Henry the Navigator, so it's as much a national symbol as a scientific one.

Sorry for mixing up the Astrolabium and the Armillary Sphere.

[Chas Charles-Dunne]

Gyrony seems to be far more common than I had first thought - thanks all.