Spanish Rock was renamed Portuguese Rock yesterday in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from Bermuda and Portugal.

The ceremony was held at the rock, which was engraved almost 500 years ago, at Spittal Pond.

Minister of Culture Neletha Butterfield and Acting Premier Michael Scott both spoke at the event and Ms. Butterfield said: "This moment is long overdue as there is increasing evidence which indicates that Spanish Rock is indeed Portuguese Rock.

"We should recognise that Portuguese Rock is a poignant reminder that Bermuda has and will continue to have strong cultural connections with Portugal and a shared maritime and international commercial history that built the foundations of the modern Atlantic world."

Antonio Nunes de Carvalho Santana Carlos, Ambassador of Portugal, flew in from London for the ceremony and he said: "I am very pleased to have come today to this event.

"In Portugal we attach great importance to this country. We are celebrating an event today that took place many years ago. Today you are putting history on the right foot."

Once the new sign was unveiled, Bishop Robert Kurtz and Father Julio Blazejewski both said prayers.

The Portuguese national anthem was performed on the accordion by Antonio Araujo and Wendell "Shine" Hayward played Bermuda's, God Save the Queen, on his saxophone.

It was thought that the inscription 'RP 1543' was made by the Spanish who roamed the seas in the 1500s and hence it was called 'Spanish Rock'. But subsequent research indicated that the inscription was made by a Portuguese sailor who was wrecked off Bermuda's reefs.